abrdn plc Trims Position in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

abrdn plc lowered its stake in shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 12.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 344,511 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 47,871 shares during the quarter. abrdn plc owned about 0.06% of Progressive worth $82,398,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Czech National Bank raised its stake in shares of Progressive by 6.9% during the third quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 119,306 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $30,275,000 after purchasing an additional 7,696 shares during the last quarter. Verde Servicos Internacionais S.A. purchased a new position in Progressive during the 3rd quarter worth $5,317,000. Aprio Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Progressive by 5.1% in the 3rd quarter. Aprio Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,244 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $316,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares during the period. Kesler Norman & Wride LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Progressive in the third quarter valued at about $927,000. Finally, Callan Family Office LLC acquired a new position in shares of Progressive during the third quarter worth about $205,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on PGR shares. Hsbc Global Res downgraded shares of Progressive from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price target on Progressive from $273.00 to $267.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on Progressive from $257.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Progressive from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Progressive from $302.00 to $313.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $275.71.

Progressive Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE PGR opened at $248.13 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $246.68 and its 200 day moving average price is $245.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a current ratio of 0.31. The firm has a market cap of $145.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.63 and a beta of 0.42. The Progressive Co. has a 1 year low of $179.90 and a 1 year high of $270.62.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The insurance provider reported $4.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.44 by $0.64. Progressive had a return on equity of 33.79% and a net margin of 11.25%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that The Progressive Co. will post 14.4 earnings per share for the current year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 16th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 9th were paid a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.16%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio is currently 2.78%.

Insider Transactions at Progressive

In other Progressive news, insider Andrew J. Quigg sold 681 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 3rd. The stock was 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 directly owns 33,612 shares in the company, valued at $8,137,465.20. This represents a 1.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Mariann Wojtkun Marshall sold 191 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $242.10, for a total value of $46,241.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 3,982 shares in the company, valued at $964,042.20. This represents a 4.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 56,361 shares of company stock worth $13,983,575 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

About Progressive

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.