The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) Declares Quarterly Dividend of $0.10

The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) declared a quarterly dividend on Monday, March 10th, RTT News reports. Investors of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be given a dividend of 0.10 per share by the insurance provider on Friday, April 11th. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.14%.

Progressive has decreased its dividend payment by an average of 17.9% annually over the last three years. Progressive has a dividend payout ratio of 28.9% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Progressive to earn $15.40 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $4.50 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 29.2%.

Progressive Trading Up 2.2 %

Progressive stock traded up $6.27 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $286.09. 477,714 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,581,673. The firm has a market capitalization of $167.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.83, a PEG ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a current ratio of 0.31. Progressive has a fifty-two week low of $195.43 and a fifty-two week high of $287.49. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $254.23 and its 200-day moving average is $252.81.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The insurance provider reported $4.08 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.44 by $0.64. Progressive had a net margin of 11.25% and a return on equity of 33.79%. On average, analysts predict that Progressive will post 14.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Progressive

In other Progressive news, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $238.66, for a total transaction of $2,386,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 282,958 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $67,530,756.28. This trade represents a 3.41 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Mariann Wojtkun Marshall sold 191 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction on Friday, January 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $242.10, for a total transaction of $46,241.10. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 3,982 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $964,042.20. This trade represents a 4.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 56,361 shares of company stock worth $14,102,075. Insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Progressive

A hedge fund recently raised its stake in Progressive stock. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its position in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 15.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 3,392 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 457 shares during the quarter. Brighton Jones LLC’s holdings in Progressive were worth $813,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PGR has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Bank of America lowered their price target on Progressive from $333.00 to $318.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday. StockNews.com raised shares of Progressive from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Raymond James raised shares of Progressive from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $305.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 26th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Progressive from $300.00 to $307.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price objective on Progressive from $295.00 to $294.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $276.59.

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.