Plato Investment Management Ltd Purchases 3,542 Shares of The Progressive Corporation $PGR

Plato Investment Management Ltd raised its position in The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) by 16.8% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 24,663 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 3,542 shares during the quarter. Plato Investment Management Ltd’s holdings in Progressive were worth $5,644,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of PGR. Bensler LLC raised its stake in shares of Progressive by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Bensler LLC now owns 72,138 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $16,427,000 after purchasing an additional 1,633 shares in the last quarter. EWA LLC raised its stake in shares of Progressive by 28.8% during the 4th quarter. EWA LLC now owns 1,409 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $321,000 after purchasing an additional 315 shares in the last quarter. NewEdge Wealth LLC raised its stake in shares of Progressive by 12.7% during the 4th quarter. NewEdge Wealth LLC now owns 50,604 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $11,524,000 after purchasing an additional 5,722 shares in the last quarter. Stiles Financial Services Inc raised its stake in shares of Progressive by 71.4% during the 4th quarter. Stiles Financial Services Inc now owns 4,719 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,075,000 after purchasing an additional 1,966 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Washington Trust Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Progressive by 27.4% during the 4th quarter. Washington Trust Advisors Inc. now owns 484 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $110,000 after purchasing an additional 104 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on PGR shares. Barclays set a $247.00 price objective on Progressive in a research note on Wednesday, March 18th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on Progressive from $216.00 to $215.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 24th. Mizuho dropped their price objective on Progressive from $235.00 to $223.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $225.00 price objective on shares of Progressive in a research note on Monday, February 23rd. Finally, Roth Mkm set a $235.00 price objective on Progressive in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $238.39.

Insider Transactions at Progressive

In other Progressive news, CIO Jonathan S. Bauer sold 2,266 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $203.05, for a total value of $460,111.30. Following the transaction, the executive directly owned 26,250 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,330,062.50. This represents a 7.95% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Carl G. Joyce sold 270 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $206.50, for a total value of $55,755.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 558 shares in the company, valued at approximately $115,227. This represents a 32.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 6,933 shares of company stock valued at $1,441,564. Corporate insiders own 0.32% of the company’s stock.

Progressive Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE PGR opened at $193.85 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 0.27 and a quick ratio of 0.35. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $202.73 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $211.43. The Progressive Corporation has a one year low of $191.75 and a one year high of $289.96. The firm has a market cap of $113.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.86, a P/E/G ratio of 5.61 and a beta of 0.31.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 15th. The insurance provider reported $4.80 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.67 by $0.13. Progressive had a return on equity of 33.47% and a net margin of 12.92%.The firm had revenue of $22.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $23.51 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $4.37 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that The Progressive Corporation will post 16.39 EPS for the current year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 2nd were issued a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 2nd. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio is currently 2.03%.

Progressive Profile

Progressive Corporation is a large U.S.-based property and casualty insurer that primarily underwrites personal auto insurance along with a broad suite of related products. Its offerings include coverage for private passenger automobiles, commercial auto fleets, motorcycles, boats and recreational vehicles, as well as homeowners, renters, umbrella and other specialty P&C products. Progressive also provides claims handling, risk management and related services to individual and commercial policyholders.

The company distributes its products through a mix of direct channels—online and by phone—and an extensive independent agent network.