The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) CIO Sells $479,391.36 in Stock

The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) CIO Jonathan S. Bauer sold 1,696 shares of the business’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 $479,391.36. Following the sale, the executive now directly owns 26,697 shares in the company, valued at $7,546,174.02. This trade represents a 5.97 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website.

Progressive Stock Performance

PGR opened at $274.52 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $160.92 billion, a PE ratio of 19.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.35. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $261.21 and a 200-day moving average of $254.84. The Progressive Co. has a 52-week low of $201.34 and a 52-week high of $292.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a current ratio of 0.31.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last released its quarterly earnings results 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, equities research analysts forecast that The Progressive Co. will post 14.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be paid 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 dividend yield of 0.15%. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 2.78%.

Institutional Trading of Progressive

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its stake in Progressive by 98.2% during the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 789 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $189,000 after purchasing an additional 391 shares during the period. Townsquare Capital LLC boosted its stake in Progressive by 90.9% during the 3rd quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 7,813 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,983,000 after purchasing an additional 3,720 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its stake in Progressive by 7.0% during 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 valued at $1,286,036,000 after purchasing an additional 330,667 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake in Progressive by 2,262.4% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 433,999 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $103,990,000 after purchasing an additional 415,628 shares during the period. Finally, Signal Advisors Wealth LLC boosted its stake in Progressive by 42.3% during the 4th quarter. Signal Advisors Wealth LLC now owns 11,889 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,849,000 after purchasing an additional 3,534 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on PGR. StockNews.com lowered Progressive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Progressive from $313.00 to $317.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on Progressive from $273.00 to $267.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Roth Mkm upped their price target on Progressive from $290.00 to $315.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Finally, Raymond James raised Progressive from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $305.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 26th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $281.06.

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.