Swedbank AB Buys 63,306 Shares of The Progressive Corporation $PGR

Swedbank AB lifted its stake in The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) by 9.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 752,440 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 63,306 shares during the quarter. Swedbank AB’s holdings in Progressive were worth $171,346,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Dagco Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Progressive in the fourth quarter worth approximately $28,000. Ameriflex Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Progressive by 106.6% in the third quarter. Ameriflex Group Inc. now owns 126 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. Entrust Financial LLC purchased a new position in shares of Progressive in the fourth quarter worth approximately $33,000. Kingdom Financial Group LLC. purchased a new position in shares of Progressive in the fourth quarter worth approximately $34,000. Finally, Bangor Savings Bank boosted its holdings in shares of Progressive by 60.4% in the fourth quarter. Bangor Savings Bank now owns 154 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. 85.34% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Progressive

In other news, insider Karen Bailo sold 3,517 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $212.00, for a total value of $745,604.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 32,348 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,857,776. The trade was a 9.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Maribel Pumarejo sold 739 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $203.25, for a total transaction of $150,201.75. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 6,933 shares of company stock worth $1,441,564 over the last ninety days. 0.32% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of Progressive from $300.60 to $261.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Zacks Research raised shares of Progressive from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 24th. Mizuho dropped their price objective on shares of Progressive from $235.00 to $223.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 20th. BMO Capital Markets reissued a “market perform” rating and issued a $220.00 price objective on shares of Progressive in a report on Wednesday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $225.00 price objective on shares of Progressive in a report on Monday, February 23rd. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $238.11.

Progressive Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:PGR opened at $199.28 on Friday. The Progressive Corporation has a 1-year low of $191.75 and a 1-year high of $289.96. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $200.46 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $210.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 0.27 and a quick ratio of 0.27. The company has a market capitalization of $116.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.13, a P/E/G ratio of 7.30 and a beta of 0.31.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 15th. The insurance provider reported $4.80 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.67 by $0.13. Progressive had a net margin of 12.92% and a return on equity of 33.47%. The firm had revenue of $22.19 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $23.51 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $4.37 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that The Progressive Corporation will post 16.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 2nd will be issued a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 2nd. Progressive’s payout ratio is 2.03%.

Progressive Profile

Progressive Corporation is a large U.S.-based property and casualty insurer that primarily underwrites personal auto insurance along with a broad suite of related products. Its offerings include coverage for private passenger automobiles, commercial auto fleets, motorcycles, boats and recreational vehicles, as well as homeowners, renters, umbrella and other specialty P&C products. Progressive also provides claims handling, risk management and related services to individual and commercial policyholders.

The company distributes its products through a mix of direct channels—online and by phone—and an extensive independent agent network.