Jeffrey Kelly Sells 7,000 Shares of Progressive (NYSE:PGR) Stock

The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) Director Jeffrey Kelly sold 7,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the director owned 22,546 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,877,376.18. This represents a 23.69% 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 link.

Progressive Price Performance

Progressive stock traded down $3.91 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $216.59. The company had a trading volume of 1,236,177 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,272,353. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $201.02 and a 200 day simple moving average of $206.81. The company has a market cap of $126.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.02, a P/E/G ratio of 6.61 and a beta of 0.28. The Progressive Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $189.20 and a fifty-two week high of $267.92. The company has a current ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 0.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 15th. The insurance provider reported $4.80 earnings per share (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 company had revenue of $22.19 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $23.51 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $4.37 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that The Progressive Corporation will post 16.91 earnings per share for the current year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 2nd will be paid 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 of this dividend is Thursday, July 2nd. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 2.03%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on PGR shares. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Progressive from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Bank of America cut their price target on shares of Progressive from $331.00 to $313.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, June 18th. Evercore reissued a “negative” rating on shares of Progressive in a research note on Wednesday, March 18th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their target price on Progressive from $216.00 to $215.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 24th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on Progressive from $218.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, March 23rd. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $237.58.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Progressive

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Allstate Corp raised its holdings in shares of Progressive by 106.1% during the fourth 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 acquired a new stake in shares of Progressive in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,836,094,000. Mariner LLC increased its position in Progressive by 7.9% in the 3rd quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 644,636 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $159,183,000 after buying an additional 47,248 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. raised its stake in Progressive by 5.7% during 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 period. Finally, Investment House LLC bought a new position in Progressive in the fourth quarter worth approximately $8,447,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

About Progressive

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.