Clearbridge Investments LLC Has $287.71 Million Stock Holdings in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Clearbridge Investments LLC lessened its position in shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 4.5% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,011,139 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 93,695 shares during the quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC owned about 0.34% of Progressive worth $287,714,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Public Sector Pension Investment Board lifted its stake in Progressive by 0.4% in the first quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 136,122 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $19,474,000 after buying an additional 534 shares during the period. Prudential PLC lifted its stake in Progressive by 0.3% in the first quarter. Prudential PLC now owns 39,260 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $5,617,000 after buying an additional 120 shares during the period. Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co lifted its stake in Progressive by 3.2% in the first quarter. Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co now owns 46,717 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $6,683,000 after buying an additional 1,450 shares during the period. WINTON GROUP Ltd lifted its stake in Progressive by 134.5% in the first quarter. WINTON GROUP Ltd now owns 31,127 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $4,453,000 after buying an additional 17,854 shares during the period. Finally, Sei Investments Co. lifted its stake in Progressive by 10.1% in the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 1,074,928 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $153,779,000 after buying an additional 98,821 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.66% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Citigroup cut their target price on Progressive from $123.00 to $106.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 14th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered Progressive from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $162.00 to $128.00 in a research report on Friday, July 14th. Barclays raised their price target on Progressive from $107.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 17th. Morgan Stanley lowered Progressive from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $135.00 to $114.00 in a research report on Tuesday, July 25th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on Progressive from $125.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 17th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $141.57.

Progressive Stock Up 1.5 %

PGR stock traded up $2.01 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $135.48. The company had a trading volume of 1,357,751 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,719,127. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a current ratio of 0.33 and a quick ratio of 0.33. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $128.60 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $134.03. The company has a market capitalization of $79.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.40, a PEG ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 0.47. The Progressive Co. has a 52 week low of $110.04 and a 52 week high of $149.87.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 13th. The insurance provider reported $0.50 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.88 by ($0.38). The company had revenue of $15.23 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.24 billion. Progressive had a net margin of 3.12% and a return on equity of 12.02%. As a group, equities analysts predict that The Progressive Co. will post 4.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 5th will be paid a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, October 4th. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.30%. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio is currently 13.70%.

Insider Transactions at Progressive

In other news, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 12,000 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $126.51, for a total transaction of $1,518,120.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 309,507 shares in the company, valued at approximately $39,155,730.57. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 12,000 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $126.51, for a total transaction of $1,518,120.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 309,507 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $39,155,730.57. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Andrew J. Quigg sold 5,070 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $127.50, for a total value of $646,425.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 20,816 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,654,040. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 62,801 shares of company stock worth $8,203,964. 0.34% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About Progressive

The Progressive Corporation, an insurance holding company, provides personal and commercial auto, personal residential and commercial property, 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.