Devin C. Johnson Sells 400 Shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) Stock

The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) Director Devin C. Johnson sold 400 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $275.04, for a total transaction of $110,016.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 8,370 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,302,084.80. This represents a 4.56 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

Progressive Trading Down 0.7 %

NYSE PGR traded down $1.94 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $272.49. The company had a trading volume of 2,773,573 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,428,459. The company has a current ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. The stock has a market capitalization of $159.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.35. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $263.42 and a 200 day moving average of $255.37. The Progressive Co. has a 1-year low of $201.34 and a 1-year high of $292.99.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The insurance provider reported $4.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.44 by $0.64. Progressive had a net margin of 11.25% and a return on equity of 33.79%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that The Progressive Co. will post 14.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 3rd. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.15%. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio is currently 2.78%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Progressive

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Progressive by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 53,400,366 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $12,795,262,000 after acquiring an additional 583,376 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of Progressive by 1.3% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 24,683,807 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $6,263,763,000 after purchasing an additional 315,411 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Progressive by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,615,430 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $3,498,363,000 after buying an additional 189,638 shares during the period. FMR LLC grew its stake in Progressive by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 10,518,615 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,669,204,000 after purchasing an additional 170,618 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Progressive during the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,843,045,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on PGR shares. 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 note on Thursday, December 26th. Hsbc Global Res lowered shares of Progressive from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Roth Mkm raised their price target on shares of Progressive from $290.00 to $315.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on Progressive from $294.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Progressive from $313.00 to $317.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $281.06.

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.