The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) Position Trimmed by Baillie Gifford & Co.

Baillie Gifford & Co. lowered its stake in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 13.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 67,493 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 10,263 shares during the period. Baillie Gifford & Co.’s holdings in Progressive were worth $16,172,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Sierra Ocean LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Progressive during the fourth quarter valued at $73,000. Monument Capital Management raised its holdings in Progressive by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Monument Capital Management now owns 13,762 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $3,298,000 after buying an additional 44 shares during the period. Valmark Advisers Inc. lifted its stake in Progressive by 17.3% during the fourth quarter. Valmark Advisers Inc. now owns 2,750 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $659,000 after buying an additional 405 shares in the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP boosted its holdings in shares of Progressive by 14.3% in the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 8,356 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,999,000 after buying an additional 1,043 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Securities Inc. increased its position in shares of Progressive by 10.9% in the fourth quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 17,186 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $4,118,000 after acquiring an additional 1,692 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Progressive Stock Up 0.2 %

PGR stock opened at $262.71 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $153.90 billion, a PE ratio of 18.24, a PEG ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 0.42. The Progressive Co. has a 1 year low of $186.94 and a 1 year high of $270.62. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $244.97 and a 200 day simple moving average of $247.54. The company has a current ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27.

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%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that The Progressive Co. will post 14.44 EPS 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 given 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 was Friday, January 10th. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio is 2.78%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently commented on PGR shares. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Progressive from $277.00 to $261.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Progressive from $302.00 to $313.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. HSBC lowered Progressive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $267.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Hsbc Global Res lowered Progressive from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, TD Cowen upped their target price on Progressive from $197.00 to $237.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 8th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $275.71.

Insider Transactions at Progressive

In related news, CAO Mariann Wojtkun Marshall sold 191 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 3,982 shares in the company, valued at $964,042.20. This represents a 4.58 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Susan Patricia Griffith sold 11,021 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 473,736 shares in the company, valued at approximately $115,255,231.44. This represents a 2.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 56,361 shares of company stock worth $13,983,575. 0.34% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.