United Capital Financial Advisors LLC Acquires 951 Shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

United Capital Financial Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 5.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 19,096 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 951 shares during the quarter. United Capital Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in Progressive were worth $4,576,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PGR. Webster Bank N. A. acquired a new position in shares of Progressive during the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Hager Investment Management Services LLC bought a new stake in Progressive in the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. Atlantic Edge Private Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Progressive by 54.7% during the fourth quarter. Atlantic Edge Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 116 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares during the period. Valley National Advisers Inc. boosted its position in shares of Progressive by 3,000.0% during the 4th quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 124 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 120 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Atala Financial Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Progressive in the 4th quarter valued at about $32,000. 85.34% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Progressive Trading Down 0.1 %

NYSE PGR opened at $275.82 on Thursday. The business’s fifty day moving average is $273.44 and its 200-day moving average is $257.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 0.31 and a quick ratio of 0.30. The stock has a market capitalization of $161.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.15, a PEG ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.38. The Progressive Co. has a one year low of $201.34 and a one year high of $292.99.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The insurance provider reported $4.08 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.44 by $0.64. Progressive had a net margin of 11.25% and a return on equity of 33.79%. Equities research analysts predict that The Progressive Co. will post 14.68 EPS for the current year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.15%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 3rd. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 2.78%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Devin C. Johnson sold 400 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $275.04, for a total value of $110,016.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 8,370 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,302,084.80. The trade was a 4.56 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $275.94, for a total transaction of $2,759,400.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 258,024 shares in the company, valued at $71,199,142.56. The trade was a 3.73 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 56,317 shares of company stock valued at $14,844,282 over the last ninety days. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on PGR. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Progressive from $317.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. Raymond James upgraded shares of Progressive from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $305.00 price target for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 26th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Progressive from $275.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, March 14th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their target price on shares of Progressive from $327.00 to $319.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Progressive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, April 4th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Progressive presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $283.71.

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.