Swiss National Bank Sells 83,500 Shares of The Progressive Corporation $PGR

Swiss National Bank lowered its position in shares of The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) by 4.9% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 1,606,300 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 83,500 shares during the quarter. Swiss National Bank’s holdings in Progressive were worth $365,787,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in PGR. Dagco Inc. bought a new position in shares of Progressive during the fourth quarter worth approximately $28,000. Ameriflex Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Progressive by 106.6% during the third quarter. Ameriflex Group Inc. now owns 126 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares during the period. Entrust Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of Progressive during the fourth quarter worth approximately $33,000. Kingdom Financial Group LLC. bought a new position in shares of Progressive during the fourth quarter worth approximately $34,000. Finally, Bangor Savings Bank increased its stake in shares of Progressive by 60.4% during the fourth quarter. Bangor Savings Bank now owns 154 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on PGR. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $208.00 target price on Progressive in a research note on Friday, May 22nd. Argus raised Progressive to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. BMO Capital Markets reissued a “market perform” rating and set a $220.00 price target on shares of Progressive in a research report on Wednesday, May 20th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price target on Progressive from $216.00 to $215.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 24th. Finally, Mizuho reduced their price target on Progressive from $235.00 to $223.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 20th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $238.11.

Insider Buying and Selling at Progressive

In other Progressive news, CAO Carl G. Joyce sold 270 shares of the firm’s 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 sale, the chief accounting officer owned 558 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $115,227. This trade represents a 32.61% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Steven Broz sold 1,157 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $200.00, for a total value of $231,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 28,668 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,733,600. This represents a 3.88% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 7,343 shares of company stock valued at $1,470,355. 0.32% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Progressive Trading Down 0.9%

Shares of NYSE:PGR opened at $202.41 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $118.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.29, a P/E/G ratio of 5.92 and a beta of 0.28. The Progressive Corporation has a 1 year low of $189.20 and a 1 year high of $269.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 0.27 and a quick ratio of 0.27. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $199.01 and its 200 day simple moving average is $208.09.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 15th. The insurance provider reported $4.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.67 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $22.19 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $23.51 billion. Progressive had a return on equity of 33.47% and a net margin of 12.92%.The company’s revenue was up 6.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $4.37 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that The Progressive Corporation will post 16.35 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 2nd will be issued 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 is Thursday, July 2nd. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 2.03%.

Progressive 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.