Versant Capital Management Inc Buys 391 Shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its position in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 98.2% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 789 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 391 shares during the period. Versant Capital Management Inc’s holdings in Progressive were worth $189,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Davis Capital Management bought a new position in shares of Progressive during the 3rd quarter valued at about $25,000. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. boosted its stake in Progressive by 114.1% in the third quarter. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. now owns 137 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 73 shares in the last quarter. Kimelman & Baird LLC bought a new position in Progressive during the second quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Sachetta LLC raised its stake in shares of Progressive by 34.0% during the second quarter. Sachetta LLC now owns 209 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $45,000 after acquiring an additional 53 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Friedenthal Financial bought a new stake in shares of Progressive in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $49,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently commented on PGR. BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on shares of Progressive from $273.00 to $267.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, December 16th. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on Progressive from $197.00 to $237.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 8th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Progressive from $299.00 to $302.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, December 16th. HSBC cut Progressive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $267.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Roth Mkm raised their target price on shares of Progressive from $270.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Progressive presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $275.94.

Insider Activity at Progressive

In other Progressive news, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $238.66, for a total value of $2,386,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 282,958 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $67,530,756.28. The trade was a 3.41 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Steven Broz sold 2,981 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $251.15, for a total transaction of $748,678.15. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 26,353 shares in the company, valued at $6,618,555.95. This represents a 10.16 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 22,981 shares of company stock valued at $5,816,178 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Progressive Stock Performance

Shares of Progressive stock opened at $242.22 on Friday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $251.58 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $239.85. The firm has a market capitalization of $141.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.60, a P/E/G ratio of 0.70 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a current ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. The Progressive Co. has a 12 month low of $161.56 and a 12 month high of $270.62.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The insurance provider reported $3.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.40 by $0.18. The company had revenue of $19.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $18.95 billion. Progressive had a net margin of 11.27% and a return on equity of 33.10%. On average, equities analysts forecast that The Progressive Co. will post 13.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 16th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 9th will be paid a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 10th. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.17%. Progressive’s payout ratio is currently 2.91%.

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.