Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. Purchases 146,130 Shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 4.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 3,509,705 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 146,130 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Progressive were worth $559,026,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position 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 worth $3,002,542,000 after acquiring an additional 2,666,449 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in Progressive by 31.8% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,781,075 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $666,004,000 after purchasing an additional 1,154,591 shares during the period. Parnassus Investments LLC grew its holdings in Progressive by 102.9% during the third quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 2,131,601 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $296,932,000 after purchasing an additional 1,080,834 shares during the period. J.P. Morgan Private Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Progressive in the third quarter worth $88,528,000. Finally, Los Angeles Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Progressive by 279.2% in the fourth quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 811,381 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $129,237,000 after buying an additional 597,401 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently issued reports on PGR. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of Progressive from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. Bank of America decreased their price target on Progressive from $279.00 to $273.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Progressive from $171.00 to $202.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price 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. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on shares of Progressive from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Progressive has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $211.88.

Progressive Trading Up 0.0 %

NYSE:PGR traded up $0.02 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $215.53. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,706,155 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,609,659. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $205.21 and a 200-day simple moving average of $180.74. The Progressive Co. has a 1 year low of $111.41 and a 1 year high of $216.33. The firm has a market capitalization of $126.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.06, a PEG ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 0.31 and a current ratio of 0.36.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last issued its earnings results on Friday, April 12th. The insurance provider reported $3.94 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.20 by $0.74. Progressive had a return on equity of 29.43% and a net margin of 8.89%. The company 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 business posted $0.65 EPS. Progressive’s quarterly revenue was up 17.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that The Progressive Co. will post 11.34 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 4th were given a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, April 3rd. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.19%. Progressive’s payout ratio is currently 4.09%.

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.