M&T Bank Corp Cuts Stock Holdings in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

M&T Bank Corp cut its position in shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 9.6% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 118,333 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 12,494 shares during the quarter. M&T Bank Corp’s holdings in Progressive were worth $18,848,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC increased its stake in shares of Progressive by 3.0% in the 3rd quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 85,155 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $11,862,000 after purchasing an additional 2,452 shares in the last quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. raised its stake in shares of Progressive by 10.3% during the 3rd quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 68,634 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $9,561,000 after buying an additional 6,386 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Progressive by 4.2% during the 3rd quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 128,982 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $17,967,000 after buying an additional 5,164 shares in the last quarter. MEAG MUNICH ERGO Kapitalanlagegesellschaft mbH acquired a new stake in Progressive in the 3rd quarter valued at $75,000. Finally, Chicago Capital LLC increased its holdings in Progressive by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Chicago Capital LLC now owns 486,920 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $67,828,000 after acquiring an additional 5,147 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Progressive Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of PGR stock traded down $0.31 during trading on Friday, hitting $208.72. 2,150,779 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,992,636. The Progressive Co. has a 52-week low of $111.41 and a 52-week high of $216.21. The firm has a market capitalization of $122.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.34. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $204.30 and its 200-day moving average price is $179.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 0.36 and a quick ratio of 0.31.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last posted its earnings results on Friday, April 12th. The insurance provider reported $3.94 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.20 by $0.74. Progressive had a return on equity of 29.43% and a net margin of 8.89%. The company had revenue of $18.96 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.88 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.65 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that The Progressive Co. will post 11.34 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 4th were given a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, April 3rd. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.19%. Progressive’s payout ratio is currently 4.09%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Karen Bailo sold 8,464 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $189.49, for a total value of $1,603,843.36. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 32,342 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,128,485.58. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, insider Karen Bailo sold 8,464 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $189.49, for a total transaction of $1,603,843.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 32,342 shares in the company, valued at $6,128,485.58. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Devin C. Johnson sold 1,000 shares of the business’s 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 owns 7,176 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,494,976.08. 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 90 days. 0.34% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have issued reports on PGR. 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 report on Wednesday, April 17th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Progressive from $202.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, April 15th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Progressive from $232.00 to $238.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on Progressive from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 25th. Finally, TD Cowen assumed coverage on shares of Progressive in a research report on Wednesday, January 10th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $174.00 target price for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Progressive has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $211.88.

Progressive 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.