West Family Investments Inc. Boosts Position in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

West Family Investments Inc. boosted its position in shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 2.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,992 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the quarter. West Family Investments Inc.’s holdings in Progressive were worth $477,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in Progressive by 14.1% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 21,554,503 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $3,002,542,000 after purchasing an additional 2,666,449 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in Progressive by 31.8% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,781,075 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $666,004,000 after acquiring an additional 1,154,591 shares during the last quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC increased its stake in Progressive by 102.9% during the third quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 2,131,601 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $296,932,000 after acquiring an additional 1,080,834 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake in shares of Progressive by 10.5% in the third quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 6,916,460 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $963,463,000 after buying an additional 655,706 shares in the last quarter. Finally, J.P. Morgan Private Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Progressive in the third quarter valued at about $88,528,000. 85.34% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Progressive Price Performance

NYSE:PGR traded down $1.51 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $210.29. The stock had a trading volume of 497,206 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,595,164. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $203.61 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $179.05. The stock has a market capitalization of $123.17 billion, a PE ratio of 21.68, a P/E/G ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 0.36 and a quick ratio of 0.31. The Progressive Co. has a 12 month low of $111.41 and a 12 month high of $216.21.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 12th. The insurance provider reported $3.94 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.20 by $0.74. The company had revenue of $18.96 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.88 billion. Progressive had a net margin of 8.89% and a return on equity of 29.43%. Progressive’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.65 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that The Progressive Co. will post 11.34 earnings per share for the current year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 4th were issued a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, April 3rd. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.19%. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio is presently 4.09%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently commented on PGR. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on Progressive from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 25th. Roth Mkm raised their target price on Progressive from $215.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 18th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on Progressive from $241.00 to $245.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Progressive from $171.00 to $202.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on Progressive from $216.00 to $218.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $211.88.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Devin C. Johnson sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.33, for a total transaction of $208,330.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 7,176 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,494,976.08. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In related news, Director Devin C. Johnson sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.33, for a total transaction of $208,330.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 7,176 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,494,976.08. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Karen Bailo sold 8,464 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $189.49, for a total transaction of $1,603,843.36. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 32,342 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,128,485.58. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 39,139 shares of company stock valued at $7,458,139. Corporate insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

About Progressive

The Progressive Corporation, an insurance holding company, provides personal and commercial auto, personal residential and commercial property, business related general liability, and other specialty property-casualty insurance products and related services in the United States. It operates in three segments: Personal Lines, Commercial Lines, and Property.