Swiss National Bank Decreases Stake in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Swiss National Bank cut its holdings in shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 4.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,654,400 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 84,000 shares during the quarter. Swiss National Bank owned approximately 0.28% of Progressive worth $396,411,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Progressive by 73.5% in the fourth quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 163,240 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $39,114,000 after buying an additional 69,178 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Progressive by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 65,034 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $15,583,000 after buying an additional 533 shares during the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Progressive by 12.4% during the 4th quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 169,367 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $40,582,000 after buying an additional 18,658 shares in the last quarter. Prosperity Wealth Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Progressive during the 4th quarter worth $502,000. Finally, Natural Investments LLC purchased a new stake in Progressive during the 4th quarter valued at about $214,000. Institutional investors own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Progressive

In related news, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $238.66, for a total transaction of $2,386,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 282,958 shares in the company, valued at approximately $67,530,756.28. This represents a 3.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Andrew J. Quigg sold 681 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $242.10, for a total value of $164,870.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 33,612 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,137,465.20. This represents a 1.99 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 62,257 shares of company stock worth $15,752,781. Insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on PGR. Roth Mkm raised their target price on shares of Progressive from $290.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Hsbc Global Res cut shares of Progressive from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Progressive from $313.00 to $317.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on Progressive from $273.00 to $267.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Progressive from $251.00 to $256.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Progressive currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $276.59.

Progressive Trading Up 0.2 %

Progressive stock opened at $277.52 on Thursday. The Progressive Co. has a one year low of $197.77 and a one year high of $287.49. The business’s fifty day moving average is $256.53 and its 200 day moving average is $253.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 0.31 and a quick ratio of 0.30. The stock has a market capitalization of $162.69 billion, a PE ratio of 19.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.35.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The insurance provider reported $4.08 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.44 by $0.64. Progressive had a net margin of 11.25% and a return on equity of 33.79%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that The Progressive Co. will post 14.68 EPS for the current year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be given a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.14%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 3rd. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 2.78%.

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.