Catalyst Financial Partners LLC Buys 52 Shares of The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR)

Catalyst Financial Partners LLC increased its stake in The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) by 1.1% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,727 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 52 shares during the quarter. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC’s holdings in Progressive were worth $1,338,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Progressive during the 4th quarter worth about $1,843,045,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Progressive by 39,285.0% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,046,037 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $862,059,000 after buying an additional 3,038,303 shares in the last quarter. GQG Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Progressive by 67.6% in the fourth quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 5,171,501 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,239,143,000 after acquiring an additional 2,085,833 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors grew its stake in Progressive by 34.3% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 6,058,187 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,451,602,000 after acquiring an additional 1,547,677 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its holdings in Progressive by 18.1% during the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 5,983,567 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,433,722,000 after acquiring an additional 915,643 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on PGR. UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of Progressive from $291.00 to $280.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on Progressive from $288.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Morgan Stanley downgraded Progressive from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $330.00 to $290.00 in a research report on Monday, July 7th. Barclays cut their target price on Progressive from $297.00 to $287.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, July 7th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Progressive from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, June 21st. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $285.41.

Insider Transactions at Progressive

In other Progressive news, Director Dyke Kahina Van sold 2,490 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $277.67, for a total transaction of $691,398.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 12,429 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,451,160.43. This trade represents a 16.69% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $275.37, for a total transaction of $2,753,700.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 238,024 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $65,544,668.88. This trade represents a 4.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 42,705 shares of company stock worth $11,450,948. 0.33% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Progressive Price Performance

Shares of Progressive stock opened at $244.77 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $143.49 billion, a PE ratio of 16.51, a P/E/G ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 0.37. The business has a 50 day moving average of $271.50 and a 200 day moving average of $265.89. The Progressive Corporation has a 52 week low of $208.13 and a 52 week high of $292.99. The company has a quick ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 0.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 16th. The insurance provider reported $4.65 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.28 by $0.37. Progressive had a net margin of 11.10% and a return on equity of 33.50%. The firm had revenue of $22.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $21.87 billion. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that The Progressive Corporation will post 14.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 11th. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 4th were issued a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 3rd. This represents a dividend yield of 0.15%. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 2.70%.

About Progressive

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.