Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA Sells 619,493 Shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lessened its stake in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 4.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 13,492,350 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 619,493 shares during the period. Progressive comprises 1.0% of Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA’s portfolio, making the stock its 11th biggest holding. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA owned approximately 2.30% of Progressive worth $3,232,902,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in PGR. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. lifted its position in shares of Progressive by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. now owns 10,118 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,424,000 after acquiring an additional 91 shares during the period. Groupama Asset Managment raised its stake in shares of Progressive by 727.8% in the fourth quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 16,664 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $3,993,000 after purchasing an additional 14,651 shares in the last quarter. Trexquant Investment LP lifted its position in Progressive by 45.9% in the fourth quarter. Trexquant Investment LP now owns 206,840 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $49,561,000 after purchasing an additional 65,109 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Progressive by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,615,430 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $3,498,363,000 after buying an additional 189,638 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nemes Rush Group LLC increased its holdings in Progressive by 305.0% in the 4th quarter. Nemes Rush Group LLC now owns 806 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $193,000 after buying an additional 607 shares during the period. 85.34% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Progressive Price Performance

PGR opened at $284.16 on Wednesday. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $166.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.35. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $266.98 and its 200-day simple moving average is $256.35. The Progressive Co. has a one year low of $201.34 and a one year high of $292.99.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The insurance provider reported $4.08 EPS for the quarter, beating 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%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that The Progressive Co. will post 14.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 3rd. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.14%. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio is currently 2.78%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Progressive

In other Progressive news, Director Devin C. Johnson sold 400 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $275.04, for a total transaction of $110,016.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 8,370 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,302,084.80. The trade was a 4.56 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 1,542 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $282.66, for a total value of $435,861.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 268,024 shares in the company, valued at $75,759,663.84. This represents a 0.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 66,255 shares of company stock worth $17,250,271. Company insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on PGR shares. HSBC downgraded shares of Progressive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $267.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Progressive from $251.00 to $256.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Barclays increased their target price on Progressive from $264.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 13th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Progressive from $300.00 to $307.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Bank of America dropped their price objective on Progressive from $318.00 to $300.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $281.06.

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.