AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc Lowers Position in The Progressive Corporation $PGR

AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc lessened its holdings in The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) by 9.0% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 204,980 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 20,313 shares during the period. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc’s holdings in Progressive were worth $54,695,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in PGR. Brighton Jones LLC raised its position in Progressive by 15.6% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 3,392 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $813,000 after purchasing an additional 457 shares in the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Progressive during the fourth quarter valued at about $269,000. Bison Wealth LLC raised its position in Progressive by 3.2% during the fourth quarter. Bison Wealth LLC now owns 2,568 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $615,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in Progressive by 39.2% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 10,763 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $3,046,000 after purchasing an additional 3,029 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC raised its position in Progressive by 0.9% during the first quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 177,377 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $50,200,000 after purchasing an additional 1,524 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Progressive

In other news, insider Patrick K. Callahan sold 6,420 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $242.22, for a total value of $1,555,052.40. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 15,192 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,679,806.24. The trade was a 29.71% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider John Jo Murphy sold 2,218 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $242.10, for a total value of $536,977.80. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 43,506 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,532,802.60. This represents a 4.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 130,045 shares of company stock worth $31,997,390. Insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on PGR shares. Barclays set a $271.00 price target on Progressive in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Progressive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, September 21st. Citigroup reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Progressive in a report on Friday, August 29th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Progressive from $265.00 to $266.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Evercore ISI decreased their price objective on Progressive from $275.00 to $273.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 1st. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and thirteen have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $279.63.

Progressive Stock Up 1.8%

NYSE PGR opened at $240.54 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 0.31 and a quick ratio of 0.31. The stock has a market capitalization of $141.01 billion, a PE ratio of 13.55, a PEG ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 0.32. The Progressive Corporation has a 1 year low of $228.54 and a 1 year high of $292.99. The business’s 50-day moving average is $245.05 and its 200 day moving average is $259.11.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 16th. The insurance provider reported $4.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.43 by $0.45. The company had revenue of $20.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $20.39 billion. Progressive had a return on equity of 35.37% and a net margin of 12.66%.Progressive’s quarterly revenue was up 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.48 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that The Progressive Corporation will post 14.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 2nd were given a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 2nd. Progressive’s payout ratio is presently 2.25%.

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.