Bristol John W & Co. Inc. NY Has $59.16 Million Stock Holdings in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Bristol John W & Co. Inc. NY lowered its stake in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 4.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 371,429 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 18,809 shares during the quarter. Bristol John W & Co. Inc. NY’s holdings in Progressive were worth $59,161,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Giverny Capital Inc. increased its stake in shares of Progressive by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter. Giverny Capital Inc. now owns 501,431 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $69,849,000 after acquiring an additional 14,022 shares during the last quarter. AIA Group Ltd raised its holdings in Progressive by 4.9% in the third quarter. AIA Group Ltd now owns 155,427 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $21,651,000 after purchasing an additional 7,268 shares during the period. First Affirmative Financial Network bought a new position in shares of Progressive during the fourth quarter worth $295,000. Bensler LLC grew its holdings in shares of Progressive by 13.1% in the 4th quarter. Bensler LLC now owns 50,378 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $8,024,000 after buying an additional 5,848 shares during the period. Finally, DNB Asset Management AS raised its stake in Progressive by 4.0% during the 4th quarter. DNB Asset Management AS now owns 139,368 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $22,199,000 after buying an additional 5,403 shares during the period. 85.34% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Progressive news, insider Andrew J. Quigg sold 551 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $169.24, for a total value of $93,251.24. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 27,921 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,725,350.04. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Susan Patricia Griffith sold 5,939 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $169.24, for a total value of $1,005,116.36. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 465,737 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $78,821,329.88. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Andrew J. Quigg sold 551 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $169.24, for a total transaction of $93,251.24. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 27,921 shares in the company, valued at $4,725,350.04. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 44,629 shares of company stock valued at $8,348,176. Company insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on PGR shares. HSBC raised their price target on Progressive from $174.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 28th. Bank of America dropped their target price on shares of Progressive from $265.00 to $264.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on shares of Progressive from $161.00 to $216.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, March 25th. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Progressive from $192.00 to $202.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, March 18th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Progressive from $171.00 to $202.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $196.56.

Progressive Stock Performance

NYSE:PGR traded up $1.64 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $203.90. The stock had a trading volume of 5,368,049 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,779,024. The Progressive Co. has a twelve month low of $111.41 and a twelve month high of $212.24. The stock has a market cap of $119.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.87, a PEG ratio of 0.88 and a beta of 0.35. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $197.15 and its 200 day simple moving average is $172.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a quick ratio of 0.31 and a current ratio of 0.31.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last posted its earnings results on Friday, April 12th. The insurance provider reported $3.73 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.20 by $0.53. Progressive had a return on equity of 21.25% and a net margin of 6.28%. The business had revenue of $18.96 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.88 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.65 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 17.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that The Progressive Co. will post 10.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 4th were paid a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.20%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, April 3rd. Progressive’s dividend 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.