The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) Director Dyke Kahina Van Sells 2,180 Shares

The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) Director Dyke Kahina Van sold 2,180 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $252.28, for a total value of $549,970.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 13,723 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,462,038.44. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

Progressive Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of PGR traded up $0.42 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $251.52. 902,912 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,512,792. The company has a quick ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 0.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. The Progressive Co. has a 1 year low of $137.59 and a 1 year high of $260.46. The firm has a market capitalization of $147.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.70, a PEG ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 0.35. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $237.81 and its 200-day moving average price is $219.41.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 16th. The insurance provider reported $2.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.04 by $0.61. Progressive had a return on equity of 33.01% and a net margin of 10.17%. The firm had revenue of $17.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17.54 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.57 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 21.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that The Progressive Co. will post 12.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 3rd. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.16%. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio is presently 4.09%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Progressive

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Progressive by 0.6% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 51,751,851 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $10,703,318,000 after buying an additional 285,070 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors boosted its stake in Progressive by 15.7% during the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 4,925,019 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,018,592,000 after buying an additional 670,006 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its stake in shares of Progressive by 1.9% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 4,922,743 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,022,507,000 after purchasing an additional 92,212 shares during the last quarter. FIL Ltd lifted its stake in shares of Progressive by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 4,885,731 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $778,199,000 after purchasing an additional 19,724 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Baird Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Progressive by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,577,731 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $569,861,000 after buying an additional 86,686 shares during the period. 85.34% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently weighed in on PGR shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on Progressive from $255.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on Progressive from $243.00 to $246.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Progressive from $260.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Bank of America upped their target price on Progressive from $294.00 to $312.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Finally, HSBC upgraded Progressive from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $253.00 price target for the company in a report on Monday, August 12th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $257.18.

Progressive Company Profile

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.