Wesbanco Bank Inc. Cuts Stock Holdings in The Progressive Corporation $PGR

Wesbanco Bank Inc. decreased its position in The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) by 16.0% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 16,711 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 3,180 shares during the quarter. Wesbanco Bank Inc.’s holdings in Progressive were worth $3,313,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Allstate Corp grew its stake in Progressive by 106.1% in the 4th quarter. Allstate Corp now owns 44,513 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $10,136,000 after purchasing an additional 22,915 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Progressive during the 4th quarter worth $1,836,094,000. Mariner LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Progressive by 7.9% in the 3rd quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 644,636 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $159,183,000 after buying an additional 47,248 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Progressive by 5.7% in the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 1,807,068 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $411,506,000 after buying an additional 97,275 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Investment House LLC bought a new position in Progressive during the fourth quarter valued at about $8,447,000. 85.34% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Progressive Trading Up 4.0%

Progressive stock opened at $224.11 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 0.27 and a current ratio of 0.27. The Progressive Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $189.20 and a fifty-two week high of $267.92. The stock has a market cap of $130.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.39, a PEG ratio of 6.81 and a beta of 0.28. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $201.86 and its 200-day moving average price is $206.89.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 15th. The insurance provider reported $4.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.67 by $0.13. Progressive had a return on equity of 33.47% and a net margin of 12.92%.The company had revenue of $22.19 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $23.51 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $4.37 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.5% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that The Progressive Corporation will post 17.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 2nd will be given a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 2nd. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 2.03%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently issued reports on PGR shares. Mizuho decreased their price objective on shares of Progressive from $235.00 to $223.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 20th. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Progressive from $218.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, March 23rd. Evercore reissued a “negative” rating on shares of Progressive in a research report on Wednesday, March 18th. Barclays set a $247.00 target price on Progressive in a research note on Wednesday, March 18th. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded Progressive from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $237.58.

Insider Transactions at Progressive

In other news, Director Jeffrey D. Kelly sold 7,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $216.33, for a total transaction of $1,514,310.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 22,546 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,877,376.18. The trade was a 23.69% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider John Jo Murphy sold 5,916 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $200.00, for a total transaction of $1,183,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 41,290 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,258,000. This trade represents a 12.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 15,230 shares of company stock valued at $3,165,817. 0.32% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.