Busey Bank Acquires Shares of 1,271 The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Busey Bank acquired a new stake in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund acquired 1,271 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $202,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Compass Ion Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Progressive by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Compass Ion Advisors LLC now owns 7,443 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,186,000 after acquiring an additional 59 shares in the last quarter. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC raised its holdings in Progressive by 10.2% in the 3rd quarter. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 670 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $93,000 after acquiring an additional 62 shares in the last quarter. Quent Capital LLC raised its holdings in Progressive by 19.3% in the 4th quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 427 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $68,000 after acquiring an additional 69 shares in the last quarter. BSW Wealth Partners increased its stake in shares of Progressive by 4.2% in the 4th quarter. BSW Wealth Partners now owns 1,727 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $275,000 after purchasing an additional 69 shares during the last quarter. Finally, IFP Advisors Inc increased its stake in shares of Progressive by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 5,860 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $816,000 after purchasing an additional 71 shares during the last quarter. 85.34% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on PGR. HSBC lifted their price target on Progressive from $174.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. Bank of America decreased their price target on Progressive from $265.00 to $264.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Progressive from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $144.00 to $176.00 in a research note on Monday, December 18th. TD Cowen started coverage on Progressive in a research report on Wednesday, January 10th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $174.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on Progressive from $161.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, March 25th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $191.44.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Progressive news, insider Andrew J. Quigg sold 551 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $169.24, for a total transaction of $93,251.24. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 27,921 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,725,350.04. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Progressive news, insider Andrew J. Quigg sold 551 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $169.24, for a total transaction of $93,251.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 27,921 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,725,350.04. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Patrick K. Callahan sold 29,675 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.26, for a total value of $5,645,965.50. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 15,189 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,889,859.14. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 44,629 shares of company stock valued at $8,348,176. Corporate insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Progressive Stock Down 2.6 %

PGR stock opened at $204.86 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $195.67 and its 200 day simple moving average is $171.80. The Progressive Co. has a fifty-two week low of $111.41 and a fifty-two week high of $212.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a quick ratio of 0.31 and a current ratio of 0.31. The company has a market cap of $119.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 0.35.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 24th. The insurance provider reported $2.96 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.43 by $0.53. Progressive had a return on equity of 21.25% and a net margin of 6.28%. The business had revenue of $16.89 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.10 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.52 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that The Progressive Co. will post 9.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 4th will be issued a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.20%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 3rd. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio is currently 6.08%.

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.