Verde Capital Management Makes New Investment in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Verde Capital Management purchased a new stake in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund purchased 4,999 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,198,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its stake in shares of Progressive by 98.2% during the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 789 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $189,000 after acquiring an additional 391 shares in the last quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC increased its position in shares of Progressive by 90.9% in the third quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 7,813 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,983,000 after buying an additional 3,720 shares in the last quarter. Diversified Trust Co raised its stake in shares of Progressive by 84.3% during the 3rd quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 25,738 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $6,531,000 after buying an additional 11,770 shares during the last quarter. Sycomore Asset Management boosted its position in shares of Progressive by 9.5% in the 2nd quarter. Sycomore Asset Management now owns 28,128 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $5,856,000 after buying an additional 2,450 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its stake in Progressive by 7.0% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 5,067,924 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,286,036,000 after acquiring an additional 330,667 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Progressive Stock Performance

Progressive stock opened at $239.58 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a current ratio of 0.30. The Progressive Co. has a one year low of $175.50 and a one year high of $270.62. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $248.98 and its 200 day moving average price is $243.14. The firm has a market capitalization of $140.35 billion, a PE ratio of 17.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.62 and a beta of 0.41.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 16th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 9th were issued a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.17%. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio is currently 2.91%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Progressive

In other news, insider Andrew J. Quigg sold 681 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $242.10, for a total transaction of $164,870.10. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 33,612 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,137,465.20. This trade represents a 1.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $238.66, for a total transaction of $2,386,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 282,958 shares in the company, valued at $67,530,756.28. This represents a 3.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 42,506 shares of company stock valued at $10,531,159 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on PGR. TD Cowen raised their price objective on shares of Progressive from $197.00 to $237.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 8th. HSBC lowered shares of 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. Barclays cut their price target on Progressive from $277.00 to $261.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 6th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Progressive from $310.00 to $300.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Raymond James upgraded Progressive from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $305.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 26th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $274.65.

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.