The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) Shares Sold by Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD

Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD cut its position in shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 22.0% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 6,652,215 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 1,876,151 shares during the quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD owned 1.14% of Progressive worth $1,375,812,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. CoreCap Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Progressive during the fourth quarter worth $275,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its position in Progressive by 6.3% during the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 39,211 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $6,246,000 after buying an additional 2,327 shares in the last quarter. Procyon Advisors LLC increased its position in Progressive by 14.4% during the fourth quarter. Procyon Advisors LLC now owns 6,388 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,017,000 after buying an additional 803 shares in the last quarter. Trueblood Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Progressive during the fourth quarter worth $219,000. Finally, Ritholtz Wealth Management increased its position in Progressive by 13.4% during the fourth quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 6,468 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,030,000 after buying an additional 764 shares in the last quarter. 85.34% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Progressive

In other Progressive news, CIO Jonathan S. Bauer sold 2,467 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $214.01, for a total transaction of $527,962.67. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive now owns 24,720 shares in the company, valued at $5,290,327.20. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, CIO Jonathan S. Bauer sold 2,467 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $214.01, for a total transaction of $527,962.67. Following the completion of the sale, the executive now owns 24,720 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,290,327.20. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Mariann Wojtkun Marshall sold 650 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.11, for a total transaction of $135,271.50. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 3,981 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $828,485.91. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 108,168 shares of company stock worth $22,937,984. Company insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PGR has been the subject of several recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Progressive from $210.00 to $239.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 11th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Progressive from $235.00 to $239.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Progressive from $216.00 to $218.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised Progressive from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $210.00 to $245.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on Progressive from $256.00 to $255.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, June 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $222.94.

Progressive Stock Performance

PGR stock traded up $2.91 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $215.68. 1,972,284 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,573,005. The company has a quick ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 0.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. The Progressive Co. has a 52 week low of $124.06 and a 52 week high of $229.00. The business has a 50-day moving average of $210.37 and a two-hundred day moving average of $201.23. The firm has a market capitalization of $126.32 billion, a PE ratio of 22.08, a P/E/G ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 0.35.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 16th. The insurance provider reported $2.65 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.04 by $0.61. Progressive had a net margin of 10.17% and a return on equity of 33.01%. The business had revenue of $17.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17.54 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.57 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 21.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that The Progressive Co. will post 12.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 12th. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 3rd were paid a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.19%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, July 3rd. Progressive’s payout ratio is presently 4.09%.

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.