Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd Sells 6,392 Shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd trimmed its stake in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 5.4% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 112,207 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 6,392 shares during the quarter. Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd’s holdings in Progressive were worth $28,474,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Legal & General Group Plc grew its holdings in Progressive by 1.9% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 4,922,743 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,022,507,000 after acquiring an additional 92,212 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC grew its position in Progressive by 21.6% during the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 4,749,628 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,205,266,000 after buying an additional 842,109 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in Progressive by 1.0% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,836,218 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $973,479,000 after buying an additional 39,675 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. grew its position in Progressive by 3.0% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 2,392,773 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $497,003,000 after buying an additional 69,709 shares during the period. Finally, Swiss National Bank grew its position in Progressive by 0.3% during the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 1,738,400 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $441,136,000 after buying an additional 4,400 shares during the period. 85.34% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Progressive Price Performance

PGR stock opened at $265.89 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $155.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.32, a PEG ratio of 0.74 and a beta of 0.36. The Progressive Co. has a twelve month low of $149.14 and a twelve month high of $266.89. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $253.25 and a 200-day simple moving average of $232.11. The company has a current ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The insurance provider reported $3.58 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.40 by $0.18. Progressive had a return on equity of 33.10% and a net margin of 11.27%. The firm had revenue of $19.43 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $18.95 billion. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that The Progressive Co. will post 13.17 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently issued reports on the stock. BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on shares of Progressive from $239.00 to $237.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of Progressive from $262.00 to $280.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Progressive from $281.00 to $282.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Progressive from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 12th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Progressive from $331.00 to $335.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 18th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $269.81.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Susan Patricia Griffith sold 43,370 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $252.20, for a total transaction of $10,937,914.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 473,735 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $119,475,967. The trade was a 8.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Patrick K. Callahan sold 7,696 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $255.21, for a total value of $1,964,096.16. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 15,189 shares in the company, valued at $3,876,384.69. The trade was a 33.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 59,209 shares of company stock worth $14,975,979. 0.34% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.