Danske Bank A S Reduces Position in The Progressive Corporation $PGR

Danske Bank A S lessened its stake in shares of The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) by 31.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 429,837 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 194,813 shares during the quarter. Danske Bank A S’s holdings in Progressive were worth $97,882,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Capital International Investors raised its holdings in shares of Progressive by 78.9% during the third quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 13,704,197 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $3,384,082,000 after acquiring an additional 6,045,732 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors raised its holdings in shares of Progressive by 26.1% during the third quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 11,167,940 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,757,905,000 after acquiring an additional 2,314,864 shares in the last quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Progressive by 2,012.0% during the third quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 767,549 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $189,546,000 after acquiring an additional 731,207 shares in the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp raised its holdings in shares of Progressive by 1,363.8% during the fourth quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 706,898 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $160,975,000 after acquiring an additional 658,607 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Marshfield Associates raised its holdings in shares of Progressive by 70.8% during the third quarter. Marshfield Associates now owns 1,577,453 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $389,552,000 after acquiring an additional 653,763 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CIO Jonathan S. Bauer sold 2,266 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $203.05, for a total value of $460,111.30. Following the sale, the executive directly owned 26,250 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,330,062.50. This represents a 7.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Carl G. Joyce sold 270 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $206.50, for a total value of $55,755.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 558 shares in the company, valued at approximately $115,227. This represents a 32.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders sold 6,933 shares of company stock valued at $1,441,564. Insiders own 0.32% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently commented on PGR shares. Bank of America upped their target price on Progressive from $295.00 to $298.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 14th. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and set a $259.00 target price on shares of Progressive in a report on Monday, March 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Progressive from $215.00 to $218.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 16th. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on Progressive from $208.00 to $221.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 16th. Finally, Argus upgraded Progressive to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, March 5th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Progressive presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $238.39.

Progressive Trading Up 0.4%

NYSE PGR opened at $201.51 on Friday. The Progressive Corporation has a 12 month low of $192.02 and a 12 month high of $289.96. The stock has a market cap of $117.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.24, a P/E/G ratio of 6.62 and a beta of 0.34. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $203.18 and its 200-day moving average price is $212.38. The company has a current ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 0.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 15th. The insurance provider reported $4.80 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.67 by $0.13. Progressive had a return on equity of 33.47% and a net margin of 12.92%.The firm had revenue of $22.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $23.51 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $4.37 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that The Progressive Corporation will post 16.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

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

Progressive Company 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.