Handelsbanken Fonder AB Cuts Position in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Handelsbanken Fonder AB lessened its holdings in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 2.8% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 178,706 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 5,063 shares during the quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB’s holdings in Progressive were worth $28,464,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Giverny Capital Inc. grew its holdings in Progressive by 2.9% in the third quarter. Giverny Capital Inc. now owns 501,431 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $69,849,000 after purchasing an additional 14,022 shares during the period. AIA Group Ltd grew its holdings in Progressive by 4.9% in the third quarter. AIA Group Ltd now owns 155,427 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $21,651,000 after purchasing an additional 7,268 shares during the period. Invesco LLC grew its holdings in Progressive by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Invesco LLC now owns 3,537 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $563,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares during the period. Strs Ohio lifted its stake in shares of Progressive by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. Strs Ohio now owns 168,187 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $26,788,000 after buying an additional 4,983 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Affirmative Financial Network bought a new position in shares of Progressive in the fourth quarter worth approximately $295,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on PGR shares. Roth Mkm upped their target price on shares of Progressive from $215.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 18th. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Progressive from $202.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, April 15th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Progressive from $228.00 to $247.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of Progressive from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Progressive from $216.00 to $218.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Progressive currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $211.88.

Insider Transactions at Progressive

In other news, Director Devin C. Johnson sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.33, for a total value of $208,330.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 7,176 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,494,976.08. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, Director Devin C. Johnson sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.33, for a total transaction of $208,330.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 7,176 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,494,976.08. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Patrick K. Callahan sold 29,675 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.26, for a total transaction of $5,645,965.50. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 15,189 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,889,859.14. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 39,139 shares of company stock valued at $7,458,139 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Progressive Stock Down 0.8 %

Shares of PGR stock opened at $213.00 on Tuesday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $200.53 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $176.08. The company has a current ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The stock has a market cap of $124.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.80, a P/E/G ratio of 0.85 and a beta of 0.35. The Progressive Co. has a 12 month low of $111.41 and a 12 month high of $216.21.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 12th. The insurance provider reported $3.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.20 by $0.74. The firm had revenue of $18.96 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.88 billion. Progressive had a net margin of 8.89% and a return on equity of 29.43%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.65 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that The Progressive Co. will post 11.22 earnings per share for the current year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 4th were paid a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, April 3rd. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.19%. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 4.09%.

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.