Trillium Asset Management LLC Trims Stake in The Progressive Corporation $PGR

Trillium Asset Management LLC cut its stake in shares of The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) by 34.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 40,949 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 21,792 shares during the period. Trillium Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Progressive were worth $9,676,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Progressive by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 55,261,140 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $12,584,067,000 after acquiring an additional 593,612 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its stake in Progressive by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 25,808,762 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $6,373,474,000 after acquiring an additional 78,374 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors raised its stake in Progressive by 8.9% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 14,921,724 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $3,398,123,000 after acquiring an additional 1,217,527 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors raised its stake in Progressive by 26.1% during the 3rd quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 11,167,940 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,757,905,000 after acquiring an additional 2,314,864 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Progressive during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,836,094,000. 85.34% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have commented on PGR. Bank of America reduced their price objective on Progressive from $325.00 to $320.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 20th. Evercore reaffirmed a “negative” rating on shares of Progressive in a research note on Wednesday, March 18th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Progressive from $218.00 to $222.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 21st. Argus raised Progressive to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 5th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and set a $220.00 price objective on shares of Progressive in a research note on Wednesday, May 20th. Six equities 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. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $238.11.

Progressive Stock Performance

NYSE PGR opened at $202.86 on Friday. The Progressive Corporation has a 1-year low of $189.20 and a 1-year high of $269.84. The company has a market capitalization of $118.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.31, a PEG ratio of 5.86 and a beta of 0.28. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $199.20 and a 200 day moving average price of $208.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 0.27 and a quick ratio of 0.27.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 15th. The insurance provider reported $4.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.67 by $0.13. Progressive had a return on equity of 33.47% and a net margin of 12.92%.The firm had revenue of $22.19 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $23.51 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $4.37 EPS. Progressive’s quarterly revenue was up 6.5% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that The Progressive Corporation will post 16.35 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 2nd will be paid a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a 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%.

Insider Activity at Progressive

In related news, insider John Jo Murphy sold 5,916 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $200.00, for a total value of $1,183,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 41,290 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,258,000. This trade represents a 12.53% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CAO Carl G. Joyce sold 270 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $206.50, for a total value of $55,755.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 558 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $115,227. The trade was a 32.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 7,343 shares of company stock valued at $1,470,355 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.32% of the company’s stock.

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.