US Bancorp DE Decreases Stake in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

US Bancorp DE decreased its holdings in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 2.8% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 215,355 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 6,092 shares during the quarter. US Bancorp DE’s holdings in Progressive were worth $44,540,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of PGR. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Progressive by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 51,466,781 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $8,197,629,000 after buying an additional 218,809 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its stake in shares of Progressive by 3.6% during the 4th quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 14,935,652 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,378,951,000 after acquiring an additional 520,742 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Progressive in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,078,831,000. FIL Ltd increased its stake in Progressive by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 4,885,731 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $778,199,000 after purchasing an additional 19,724 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Baird Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in Progressive by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,577,731 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $569,861,000 after purchasing an additional 86,686 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Progressive

In other news, Director Devin C. Johnson sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.33, for a total value of $208,330.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 7,176 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,494,976.08. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, Director Devin C. Johnson sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.33, for a total value of $208,330.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 7,176 shares in the company, valued at $1,494,976.08. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Steven Broz sold 7,361 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $207.25, for a total value of $1,525,567.25. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 35,503 shares in the company, valued at $7,357,996.75. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 34,518 shares of company stock valued at $7,159,674 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have weighed in on PGR. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on Progressive from $256.00 to $255.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, June 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Progressive from $161.00 to $216.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, March 25th. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Progressive from $230.00 to $232.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, June 17th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on shares of Progressive from $241.00 to $245.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 15th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $235.00 price objective on shares of Progressive in a research note on Monday, June 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $218.50.

Progressive Trading Down 3.3 %

Shares of PGR traded down $7.10 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $210.00. The stock had a trading volume of 3,394,696 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,574,129. The Progressive Co. has a 12-month low of $117.64 and a 12-month high of $223.84. The firm has a market cap of $123.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.46, a P/E/G ratio of 0.83 and a beta of 0.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 0.32 and a current ratio of 0.32. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $209.60 and its 200 day simple moving average is $198.07.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 12th. The insurance provider reported $3.94 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.20 by $0.74. Progressive had a return on equity of 29.43% and a net margin of 8.89%. The company had revenue of $18.96 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.88 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.65 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 17.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that The Progressive Co. will post 11.24 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

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

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.