Laird Norton Wetherby Wealth Management LLC Sells 635 Shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Laird Norton Wetherby Wealth Management LLC reduced its stake in shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 3.5% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 17,675 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 635 shares during the period. Laird Norton Wetherby Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Progressive were worth $4,235,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. bought a new position in Progressive during the fourth quarter valued at $192,000. HBW Advisory Services LLC increased its position in Progressive by 6.0% during the fourth quarter. HBW Advisory Services LLC now owns 1,038 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $249,000 after acquiring an additional 59 shares during the last quarter. Czech National Bank grew its holdings in Progressive by 6.5% during the 4th quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 127,016 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $30,434,000 after purchasing an additional 7,710 shares during the last quarter. Aprio Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Progressive by 24.3% during the 4th quarter. Aprio Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,546 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $371,000 after purchasing an additional 302 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Matrix Trust Co bought a new position in Progressive during the 4th quarter valued at about $145,000. Institutional investors own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Progressive Price Performance

NYSE PGR opened at $284.33 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a current ratio of 0.31. The company has a market cap of $166.68 billion, a PE ratio of 19.75, a P/E/G ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.40. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $275.16 and its 200-day moving average price is $260.46. The Progressive Co. has a 52-week low of $201.34 and a 52-week high of $292.99.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 16th. The insurance provider reported $4.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.28 by $0.37. Progressive had a return on equity of 33.79% and a net margin of 11.25%. The business had revenue of $22.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $21.87 billion. Sell-side analysts forecast that The Progressive Co. will post 14.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd were paid a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 3rd. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.14%. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 2.70%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently commented on PGR. Bank of America raised Progressive from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $312.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated a “market perform” rating and issued a $288.00 price target on shares of Progressive in a report on Thursday, April 17th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Progressive from $282.00 to $288.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Progressive from $310.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th. Finally, UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Progressive from $275.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, March 14th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $287.65.

Insider Activity

In other Progressive news, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $279.94, for a total value of $2,799,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 269,566 shares in the company, valued at $75,462,306.04. This trade represents a 3.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Patrick K. Callahan sold 4,669 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $279.70, for a total transaction of $1,305,919.30. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 15,191 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,248,922.70. This trade represents a 23.51% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 39,894 shares of company stock worth $11,020,097. Corporate insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Progressive Company 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.