Strategic Wealth Partners Ltd. Cuts Holdings in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Strategic Wealth Partners Ltd. decreased its position in shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 7.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,926 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 393 shares during the period. Strategic Wealth Partners Ltd.’s holdings in Progressive were worth $1,291,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Progressive by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 53,400,366 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $12,795,262,000 after acquiring an additional 583,376 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Progressive by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,615,430 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $3,498,363,000 after acquiring an additional 189,638 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Progressive in the fourth quarter worth about $1,843,045,000. Northern Trust Corp grew its position in Progressive by 13.0% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 6,179,529 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,480,677,000 after acquiring an additional 710,684 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors grew its position in Progressive by 34.3% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 6,058,187 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,451,602,000 after acquiring an additional 1,547,677 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Progressive Stock Performance

Progressive stock opened at $285.93 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $167.62 billion, a PE ratio of 19.86, a P/E/G ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.40. The Progressive Co. has a fifty-two week low of $201.34 and a fifty-two week high of $292.99. 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 50 day moving average price of $275.35 and a 200-day moving average price of $261.81.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 16th. The insurance provider reported $4.65 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.28 by $0.37. The company had revenue of $22.21 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $21.87 billion. Progressive had a net margin of 11.25% and a return on equity of 33.79%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that The Progressive Co. will post 14.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Carl G. Joyce sold 360 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $276.17, for a total value of $99,421.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 655 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $180,891.35. The trade was a 35.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 1,542 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction on Monday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $282.66, for a total transaction of $435,861.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 268,024 shares in the company, valued at $75,759,663.84. This represents a 0.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 39,894 shares of company stock valued at $11,020,097 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently commented on PGR. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price target on Progressive from $327.00 to $319.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Progressive from $267.00 to $287.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated a “market perform” rating and set a $288.00 target price on shares of Progressive in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Roth Mkm boosted their target price on Progressive from $290.00 to $315.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on Progressive from $282.00 to $288.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Progressive has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $287.65.

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.