Renaissance Technologies LLC Grows Position in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its holdings in shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 30.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 811,000 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 187,200 shares during the quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC owned 0.14% of Progressive worth $194,324,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of PGR. Kesler Norman & Wride LLC grew its holdings in shares of Progressive by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Kesler Norman & Wride LLC now owns 3,695 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $885,000 after buying an additional 40 shares in the last quarter. Atlantic Edge Private Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Progressive by 54.7% in the 4th quarter. Atlantic Edge Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 116 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 41 shares during the period. LRI Investments LLC raised its stake in Progressive by 16.5% during the third quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 296 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $76,000 after acquiring an additional 42 shares during the period. Washington Trust Bank grew its holdings in shares of Progressive by 4.1% during the fourth quarter. Washington Trust Bank now owns 1,066 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $255,000 after purchasing an additional 42 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SYM FINANCIAL Corp increased its position in Progressive by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. SYM FINANCIAL Corp now owns 1,602 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $384,000 after buying an additional 44 shares during the period. 85.34% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on PGR shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on shares of Progressive from $294.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. HSBC cut Progressive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $267.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Progressive from $264.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. StockNews.com lowered Progressive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Progressive from $275.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, March 14th. Eight equities 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.com, Progressive has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $280.29.

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO Mariann Wojtkun Marshall sold 585 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $243.29, for a total transaction of $142,324.65. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 3,983 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $969,024.07. This trade represents a 12.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Andrew J. Quigg sold 962 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $243.29, for a total transaction of $234,044.98. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 34,787 shares in the company, valued at $8,463,329.23. This trade represents a 2.69 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 56,317 shares of company stock worth $14,844,282. Insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Progressive Stock Performance

Shares of PGR stock opened at $255.03 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $149.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.71, a PEG ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a current ratio of 0.31. The Progressive Co. has a 52 week low of $201.34 and a 52 week high of $292.99. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $269.31 and a 200 day simple moving average of $256.73.

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

Progressive Announces Dividend

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

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.