American Century Companies Inc. Has $584.71 Million Stock Holdings in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

American Century Companies Inc. lowered its position in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 5.9% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 2,440,265 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 152,697 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc.’s holdings in Progressive were worth $584,712,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of PGR. State Street Corp increased its stake in Progressive by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 24,683,807 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $6,263,763,000 after purchasing an additional 315,411 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Progressive by 13.2% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,425,792 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $3,652,235,000 after buying an additional 1,682,213 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Progressive by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 10,518,615 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,669,204,000 after buying an additional 170,618 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Progressive by 7.0% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 5,067,924 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,286,036,000 after buying an additional 330,667 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Progressive by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,951,899 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $946,915,000 after buying an additional 115,681 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Progressive

In related news, insider Andrew J. Quigg sold 681 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $242.10, for a total value of $164,870.10. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 33,612 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,137,465.20. This trade 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 link. Also, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 282,958 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $67,530,756.28. The trade was a 3.41 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 65,495 shares of company stock worth $16,668,034. Insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Progressive from $264.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 13th. StockNews.com raised shares of Progressive from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday. Raymond James raised shares of Progressive from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $305.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 26th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Progressive from $313.00 to $317.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Progressive from $300.00 to $307.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Progressive currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $281.06.

Progressive Stock Down 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE PGR opened at $273.08 on Friday. The Progressive Co. has a one year low of $201.34 and a one year high of $292.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 0.31 and a quick ratio of 0.30. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $261.96 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $254.99. The stock has a market capitalization of $160.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.96, a PEG ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.35.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The insurance provider reported $4.08 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.44 by $0.64. Progressive had a net margin of 11.25% and a return on equity of 33.79%. As a group, analysts expect that The Progressive Co. will post 14.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be issued a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.15%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 3rd. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio is 2.78%.

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.