The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) Shares Sold by Prudential PLC

Prudential PLC cut its stake in shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 29.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 67,254 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 27,517 shares during the quarter. Prudential PLC’s holdings in Progressive were worth $16,115,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Progressive during the third quarter worth about $49,000. Hilltop Holdings Inc. acquired a new position in Progressive during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $580,000. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC raised its stake in shares of Progressive by 8.4% during the 3rd quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 22,791 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $5,783,000 after buying an additional 1,769 shares in the last quarter. IHT Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Progressive by 55.3% in the 3rd quarter. IHT Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,740 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,204,000 after buying an additional 1,687 shares during the period. Finally, Morse Asset Management Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Progressive in the third quarter valued at approximately $55,000. 85.34% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Progressive

In other Progressive news, Director Devin C. Johnson sold 400 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 25th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,302,084.80. The trade was a 4.56 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $275.94, for a total value of $2,759,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 258,024 shares in the company, valued at approximately $71,199,142.56. This trade represents a 3.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 56,317 shares of company stock worth $14,844,282. 0.33% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PGR has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Roth Mkm raised their target price on Progressive from $290.00 to $315.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Progressive from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, March 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Progressive from $313.00 to $317.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Progressive from $275.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Finally, Raymond James upgraded Progressive from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $305.00 price target on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 26th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $281.06.

Progressive Stock Up 2.0 %

PGR stock opened at $286.78 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $268.77 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $256.73. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $168.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.92, a PEG ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.38. 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%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that The Progressive Co. will post 14.68 EPS for the current year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be given a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 3rd. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.14%. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio is presently 2.78%.

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.