Sivia Capital Partners LLC Purchases Shares of 1,659 The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Sivia Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 1,659 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $264,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Progressive during the 4th quarter worth about $1,078,831,000. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in shares of Progressive by 14.1% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 21,554,503 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $3,002,542,000 after acquiring an additional 2,666,449 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Progressive by 31.8% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,781,075 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $666,004,000 after acquiring an additional 1,154,591 shares in the last quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. boosted its stake in shares of Progressive by 237.8% during the 4th quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,485,750 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $236,650,000 after acquiring an additional 1,045,883 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Los Angeles Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Progressive by 279.2% during the 4th quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 811,381 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $129,237,000 after acquiring an additional 597,401 shares in the last quarter. 85.34% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Progressive Stock Up 2.1 %

Shares of NYSE PGR opened at $208.24 on Tuesday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $209.05 and a 200-day simple moving average of $190.85. The company has a market capitalization of $121.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.31, a P/E/G ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 0.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 0.32 and a quick ratio of 0.32. The Progressive Co. has a 1 year low of $111.41 and a 1 year high of $217.77.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 12th. The insurance provider reported $3.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.20 by $0.74. Progressive had a net margin of 8.89% and a return on equity of 29.43%. The business had revenue of $18.96 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.88 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.65 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 17.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that The Progressive Co. will post 11.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 12th. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 3rd will be issued a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 3rd. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.19%. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 4.09%.

Insider Activity at Progressive

In related news, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 12,457 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $204.43, for a total value of $2,546,584.51. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 312,958 shares in the company, valued at approximately $63,978,003.94. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Progressive news, Director Devin C. Johnson sold 1,000 shares of the firm’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 owns 7,176 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,494,976.08. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 12,457 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $204.43, for a total transaction of $2,546,584.51. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 312,958 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $63,978,003.94. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 20,818 shares of company stock worth $4,280,482. Insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently issued reports on PGR. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on shares of Progressive from $161.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, March 25th. Bank of America raised their price target on shares of Progressive from $279.00 to $286.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 16th. HSBC raised their price target 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. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on shares of Progressive from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target 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. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Progressive has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $216.81.

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.