The Progressive Co. (PGR) To Go Ex-Dividend on April 3rd

The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) announced a quarterly dividend on Monday, March 10th, RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be given a dividend of 0.10 per share by the insurance provider on Friday, April 11th. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.14%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 3rd.

Progressive has decreased its dividend payment by an average of 17.9% per year over the last three years. Progressive has a payout ratio of 28.9% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Progressive to earn $15.40 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $4.50 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 29.2%.

Progressive Price Performance

NYSE PGR opened at $277.33 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 0.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. Progressive has a 12-month low of $195.57 and a 12-month high of $287.49. The company has a market capitalization of $162.57 billion, a PE ratio of 19.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.35. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $255.77 and its 200-day moving average is $253.33.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The insurance provider reported $4.08 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.44 by $0.64. Progressive had a net margin of 11.25% and a return on equity of 33.79%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Progressive will post 14.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Progressive

In related news, insider Patrick K. Callahan sold 4,669 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $279.70, for a total value of $1,305,919.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 15,191 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,248,922.70. The trade was a 23.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CIO Jonathan S. Bauer sold 1,227 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $281.00, for a total value of $344,787.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive now directly owns 28,393 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,978,433. This trade represents a 4.14 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 62,257 shares of company stock valued at $15,752,781 over the last quarter. 0.34% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A hedge fund recently raised its stake in Progressive stock. Brighton Jones LLC grew its holdings in shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 15.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,392 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 457 shares during the quarter. Brighton Jones LLC’s holdings in Progressive were worth $813,000 at the end of the most recent quarter. 85.34% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have commented on PGR shares. Roth Mkm lifted their price objective on shares of Progressive from $290.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Raymond James raised shares of Progressive from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $305.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 26th. Bank of America reduced their price objective on shares of Progressive from $333.00 to $318.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Progressive from $261.00 to $264.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Progressive from $251.00 to $256.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Progressive presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $276.59.

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.