Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich Grows Stock Position in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich increased its position in shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 2.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 711,062 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 17,446 shares during the quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich’s holdings in Progressive were worth $113,258,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in PGR. Valley National Advisers Inc. increased its holdings in Progressive by 143.6% in the 4th quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 190 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 112 shares during the last quarter. Arlington Trust Co LLC acquired a new stake in Progressive in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. acquired a new stake in Progressive in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Criterion Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Progressive in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $47,000. Finally, BOK Financial Private Wealth Inc. acquired a new stake in Progressive in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $48,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on shares of Progressive from $241.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 15th. Roth Mkm boosted their price target on shares of Progressive from $215.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 18th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Progressive from $228.00 to $247.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on shares of Progressive from $161.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, March 25th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of Progressive from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Progressive has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $211.88.

Insider Transactions at Progressive

In other news, insider Patrick K. Callahan sold 29,675 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.26, for a total transaction of $5,645,965.50. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 15,189 shares in the company, valued at $2,889,859.14. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Progressive news, insider Patrick K. Callahan sold 29,675 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.26, for a total transaction of $5,645,965.50. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 15,189 shares in the company, valued at $2,889,859.14. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Karen Bailo sold 8,464 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $189.49, for a total transaction of $1,603,843.36. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 32,342 shares in the company, valued at $6,128,485.58. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 39,139 shares of company stock worth $7,458,139 over the last ninety days. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Progressive Stock Performance

PGR traded down $2.13 on Thursday, reaching $210.07. The company had a trading volume of 1,881,969 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,610,821. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $201.66 and a 200-day moving average price of $176.83. The Progressive Co. has a 1 year low of $111.41 and a 1 year high of $216.21. The company has a quick ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The stock has a market capitalization of $123.04 billion, a PE ratio of 21.72, a P/E/G ratio of 0.85 and a beta of 0.35.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last announced its earnings results on Friday, April 12th. The insurance provider reported $3.94 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.20 by $0.74. Progressive had a net margin of 8.89% and a return on equity of 29.43%. The business had revenue of $18.96 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.88 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.65 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 17.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that The Progressive Co. will post 11.22 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 4th were paid a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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 (DPR) is 4.09%.

Progressive Company Profile

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.