The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) Shares Acquired by First Trust Direct Indexing L.P.

First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. lifted its position in shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 20.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 19,459 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 3,329 shares during the quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P.’s holdings in Progressive were worth $3,099,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in PGR. Valley National Advisers Inc. raised its stake in shares of Progressive by 143.6% during the 4th quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 190 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 112 shares during the last quarter. Arlington Trust Co LLC acquired a new position in shares of Progressive during the 3rd quarter worth $36,000. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Progressive during the 4th quarter worth $39,000. Criterion Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Progressive during the 4th quarter worth $47,000. Finally, BOK Financial Private Wealth Inc. acquired a new position in Progressive in the 4th quarter valued at about $48,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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 that occurred on Wednesday, April 17th. The stock was 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 owns 7,176 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,494,976.08. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Progressive news, insider Karen Bailo sold 8,464 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $189.49, for a total value of $1,603,843.36. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 32,342 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,128,485.58. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, 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 value of $208,330.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 7,176 shares in the company, valued at $1,494,976.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 39,139 shares of company stock worth $7,458,139 in the last 90 days. 0.34% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently weighed in on PGR. HSBC boosted their target price on shares of Progressive from $174.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Progressive from $228.00 to $247.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on shares of Progressive from $241.00 to $245.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 15th. Roth Mkm boosted their target price on shares of Progressive from $215.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 18th. Finally, TD Cowen began coverage on shares of Progressive in a research note on Wednesday, January 10th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $174.00 target price for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $211.88.

Progressive Trading Up 1.7 %

Shares of NYSE:PGR traded up $3.53 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $211.78. 2,360,551 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,620,536. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 0.31 and a current ratio of 0.36. The Progressive Co. has a 12-month low of $111.41 and a 12-month high of $216.21. The firm has a market cap of $124.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.81 and a beta of 0.35. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $203.18 and its 200 day moving average price is $178.82.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 12th. The insurance provider reported $3.94 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.20 by $0.74. The firm had revenue of $18.96 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.88 billion. Progressive had a return on equity of 29.43% and a net margin of 8.89%. Progressive’s quarterly revenue was up 17.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.65 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that The Progressive Co. will post 11.34 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

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