The Progressive Corporation $PGR Shares Bought by Clark Capital Management Group Inc.

Clark Capital Management Group Inc. raised its stake in The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) by 42.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 270,775 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 81,318 shares during the period. Clark Capital Management Group Inc.’s holdings in Progressive were worth $61,661,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Kemnay Advisory Services Inc. acquired a new stake in Progressive in the 4th quarter valued at about $53,000. Captrust Financial Advisors raised its position in shares of Progressive by 16.8% during the 4th quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 33,236 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $7,568,000 after acquiring an additional 4,785 shares in the last quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership raised its position in shares of Progressive by 16.4% during the 4th quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 4,672,994 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,064,134,000 after acquiring an additional 657,802 shares in the last quarter. &PARTNERS raised its position in shares of Progressive by 11.7% during the 4th quarter. &PARTNERS now owns 26,696 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $6,059,000 after acquiring an additional 2,805 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH raised its position in shares of Progressive by 5.2% during the 4th quarter. Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH now owns 24,587 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $5,654,000 after acquiring an additional 1,223 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Carl G. Joyce sold 270 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $206.50, for a total transaction of $55,755.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 558 shares in the company, valued at $115,227. This trade represents a 32.61% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Steven Broz sold 1,157 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $200.00, for a total value of $231,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 28,668 shares in the company, valued at $5,733,600. This trade represents a 3.88% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 7,343 shares of company stock worth $1,470,355 in the last quarter. 0.32% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. BMO Capital Markets reissued a “market perform” rating and set a $220.00 target price on shares of Progressive in a research report on Wednesday, May 20th. Barclays set a $247.00 target price on Progressive in a research report on Wednesday, March 18th. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on Progressive from $205.00 to $190.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 31st. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Progressive from $218.00 to $222.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 21st. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Progressive in a research report on Friday, May 22nd. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Progressive presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $238.11.

Progressive Trading Up 0.6%

NYSE:PGR opened at $204.70 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $199.56 and its 200 day moving average price is $207.60. The company has a market capitalization of $119.61 billion, a PE ratio of 10.41, a P/E/G ratio of 5.90 and a beta of 0.28. The company has a quick ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 0.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The Progressive Corporation has a 52-week low of $189.20 and a 52-week high of $267.92.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 15th. The insurance provider reported $4.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.67 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $22.19 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $23.51 billion. Progressive had a return on equity of 33.47% and a net margin of 12.92%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $4.37 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that The Progressive Corporation will post 16.35 EPS for the current year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 2nd will be paid a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 2nd. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 2.03%.

About Progressive

Progressive Corporation is a large U.S.-based property and casualty insurer that primarily underwrites personal auto insurance along with a broad suite of related products. Its offerings include coverage for private passenger automobiles, commercial auto fleets, motorcycles, boats and recreational vehicles, as well as homeowners, renters, umbrella and other specialty P&C products. Progressive also provides claims handling, risk management and related services to individual and commercial policyholders.

The company distributes its products through a mix of direct channels—online and by phone—and an extensive independent agent network.