Villere ST Denis J & Co. LLC Sells 42,867 Shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Villere ST Denis J & Co. LLC reduced its position in shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 32.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 89,258 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 42,867 shares during the quarter. Villere ST Denis J & Co. LLC’s holdings in Progressive were worth $21,387,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd increased its holdings in shares of Progressive by 16.6% in the fourth quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd now owns 1,410,527 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $337,976,000 after purchasing an additional 200,787 shares during the last quarter. Vicus Capital acquired a new position in shares of Progressive in the fourth quarter valued at $333,000. Banque Pictet & Cie SA increased its holdings in shares of Progressive by 7.6% in the fourth quarter. Banque Pictet & Cie SA now owns 14,950 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $3,582,000 after purchasing an additional 1,050 shares during the last quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Progressive by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 10,875 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,606,000 after purchasing an additional 144 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AMS Capital Ltda increased its holdings in shares of Progressive by 18.6% in the fourth quarter. AMS Capital Ltda now owns 47,645 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $11,416,000 after purchasing an additional 7,473 shares during the last quarter. 85.34% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Progressive

In related news, CAO Mariann Wojtkun Marshall sold 191 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $242.10, for a total transaction of $46,241.10. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 3,982 shares in the company, valued at $964,042.20. The trade was a 4.58 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Susan Patricia Griffith sold 11,021 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $243.29, for a total value of $2,681,299.09. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 473,736 shares in the company, valued at $115,255,231.44. This represents a 2.27 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 56,361 shares of company stock valued at $13,983,575 in the last 90 days. 0.34% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PGR has been the topic of several research reports. TD Cowen upped their price objective on shares of Progressive from $197.00 to $237.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 8th. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Progressive from $331.00 to $335.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 18th. Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of Progressive from $277.00 to $285.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Progressive from $251.00 to $256.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Progressive from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $275.71.

Progressive Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of Progressive stock opened at $262.71 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $153.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.24, a PEG ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a quick ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 0.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. The Progressive Co. has a 12-month low of $186.94 and a 12-month high of $270.62. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $244.80 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $246.75.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The insurance provider reported $4.08 earnings per share (EPS) 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%. On average, analysts forecast that The Progressive Co. will post 14.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 16th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 9th were paid a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.15%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. Progressive’s 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.