Royal London Asset Management Ltd. Decreases Stock Position in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Royal London Asset Management Ltd. trimmed its holdings in shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 5.0% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 1,595,870 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 84,631 shares during the quarter. Progressive accounts for approximately 0.9% of Royal London Asset Management Ltd.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 19th biggest position. Royal London Asset Management Ltd.’s holdings in Progressive were worth $382,386,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Progressive during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $408,416,000. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Progressive by 13.2% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,425,792 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $3,652,235,000 after purchasing an additional 1,682,213 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Progressive by 21.6% during the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 4,749,628 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,205,266,000 after buying an additional 842,109 shares during the period. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec lifted its holdings in shares of Progressive by 75.3% during the 3rd quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 1,494,084 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $379,139,000 after buying an additional 641,943 shares during the period. Finally, Proficio Capital Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Progressive by 36,819.8% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 568,195 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $136,145,000 after acquiring an additional 566,656 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Susan Patricia Griffith sold 11,021 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 22nd. The shares were 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 directly owns 473,736 shares in the company, valued at $115,255,231.44. The trade was a 2.27 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 1,542 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $282.66, for a total transaction of $435,861.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 268,024 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $75,759,663.84. The trade was a 0.57 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 65,495 shares of company stock valued at $16,668,034 in the last quarter. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PGR has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Progressive from $313.00 to $317.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Roth Mkm raised their price objective on shares of Progressive from $290.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. StockNews.com cut shares of Progressive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, March 14th. Bank of America dropped their price target on shares of Progressive from $333.00 to $318.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Finally, Raymond James upgraded Progressive from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $305.00 price target for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 26th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $281.76.

Progressive Price Performance

PGR stock opened at $273.19 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a current ratio of 0.31. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $260.59 and its 200-day moving average price is $254.70. The Progressive Co. has a one year low of $201.34 and a one year high of $292.99. The company has a market capitalization of $160.14 billion, a PE ratio of 18.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.35.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The insurance provider reported $4.08 EPS for the quarter, topping 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, equities analysts anticipate that The Progressive Co. will post 14.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.15%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 3rd. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.