Progressive (NYSE:PGR) Insider Sells $1,535,979.31 in Stock

The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) insider Lori Niederst sold 7,339 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $209.29, for a total value of $1,535,979.31. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 42,567 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,908,847.43. This represents a 14.71% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Progressive Stock Up 4.9%

Shares of NYSE PGR opened at $217.28 on Thursday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $214.84 and a 200 day simple moving average of $206.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 0.29 and a quick ratio of 0.29. The Progressive Corporation has a 1 year low of $189.20 and a 1 year high of $254.93. The firm has a market cap of $126.32 billion, a PE ratio of 10.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.80 and a beta of 0.27.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 15th. The insurance provider reported $5.67 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.64 by $1.03. Progressive had a net margin of 12.84% and a return on equity of 32.92%. The firm had revenue of $23.61 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $19.49 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $5.40 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that The Progressive Corporation will post 17.47 EPS for the current year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 9th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 1st will be paid a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 1st. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.2%. Progressive’s payout ratio is currently 2.01%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently issued reports on PGR shares. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Progressive in a research report on Monday, August 3rd. Evercore set a $240.00 price target on Progressive in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “hold” rating and set a $228.00 price objective on shares of Progressive in a research report on Wednesday. HSBC lifted their price objective on Progressive from $214.00 to $221.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, July 6th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada set a $208.00 target price on Progressive in a report on Friday, May 22nd. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $234.11.

Institutional Trading of Progressive

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Progressive by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 55,261,140 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $12,584,067,000 after purchasing an additional 593,612 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in Progressive in the second quarter worth approximately $10,496,271,000. State Street Corp lifted its stake in Progressive by 0.3% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 25,808,762 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $6,373,474,000 after buying an additional 78,374 shares during the period. Capital International Investors lifted its stake in Progressive by 8.9% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 14,921,724 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $3,398,123,000 after buying an additional 1,217,527 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE bought a new position in shares of Progressive during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $2,682,342,000. 85.34% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Progressive Company Profile

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.