Smith Moore & CO. Has $413,000 Stock Holdings in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Smith Moore & CO. lifted its position in shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 104.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,724 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 879 shares during the period. Smith Moore & CO.’s holdings in Progressive were worth $413,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Webster Bank N. A. bought a new position in shares of Progressive during the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. Hager Investment Management Services LLC acquired a new stake in Progressive in the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. Atlantic Edge Private Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Progressive by 54.7% during the 4th quarter. Atlantic Edge Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 116 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. lifted its holdings in 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 buying an additional 120 shares during the period. Finally, Atala Financial Inc bought a new stake in shares of Progressive in the 4th quarter valued at about $32,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Progressive Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:PGR opened at $257.27 on Friday. The Progressive Co. has a twelve month low of $201.34 and a twelve month high of $292.99. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $269.14 and its 200-day moving average is $256.74. The company has a quick ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 0.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. The firm has a market capitalization of $150.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.87, a PEG ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.38.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The insurance provider reported $4.08 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.44 by $0.64. Progressive had a net margin of 11.25% and a return on equity of 33.79%. Sell-side analysts forecast that The Progressive Co. will post 14.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.16%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 3rd. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio is currently 2.78%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PGR has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Raymond James raised Progressive from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $305.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 26th. Hsbc Global Res lowered shares of Progressive from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. StockNews.com cut shares of Progressive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday. Bank of America cut shares of Progressive from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price target for the company from $300.00 to $287.00 in a research report on Friday. Finally, HSBC lowered Progressive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $267.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Progressive presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $280.29.

Insider Transactions at Progressive

In related news, insider Andrew J. Quigg sold 962 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $243.29, for a total value of $234,044.98. Following the sale, the insider now owns 34,787 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,463,329.23. The trade was a 2.69 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Carl G. Joyce sold 360 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $276.17, for a total value of $99,421.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 655 shares in the company, valued at approximately $180,891.35. The trade was a 35.47 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 56,317 shares of company stock valued at $14,844,282 over the last ninety days. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Progressive 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.