Insider Selling: The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) CIO Sells 1,696 Shares of Stock

The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) CIO Jonathan S. Bauer sold 1,696 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $282.66, for a total transaction of $479,391.36. Following the completion of the sale, the executive now directly owns 26,697 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,546,174.02. This represents a 5.97 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link.

Progressive Stock Performance

Shares of PGR opened at $282.64 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $165.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.63, a P/E/G ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.35. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $259.99 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $254.57. The Progressive Co. has a 12 month low of $201.34 and a 12 month high of $292.99. 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 data 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%. Research analysts anticipate that The Progressive Co. will post 14.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.10 per share. 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 payout ratio is 2.78%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PGR. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Progressive by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 53,400,366 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $12,795,262,000 after buying an additional 583,376 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its position in Progressive by 1.3% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 24,683,807 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $6,263,763,000 after acquiring an additional 315,411 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Progressive by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,615,430 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $3,498,363,000 after acquiring an additional 189,638 shares during the period. FMR LLC boosted its position in Progressive by 1.6% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 10,518,615 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,669,204,000 after purchasing an additional 170,618 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Progressive during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,843,045,000. Institutional investors own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have weighed in on PGR shares. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Progressive from $313.00 to $317.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. 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 research report on Thursday, December 26th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on Progressive from $273.00 to $267.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, December 16th. Bank of America dropped their target price on shares of Progressive from $333.00 to $318.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 10th. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on shares of Progressive from $264.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $281.76.

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.