Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD Sells 1,003,325 Shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD trimmed its stake in shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR - Free Report) by 14.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,708,230 shares of the insurance provider's stock after selling 1,003,325 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD owned about 0.97% of Progressive worth $1,367,750,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of PGR. Webster Bank N. A. purchased a new position in shares of Progressive during the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. Hager Investment Management Services LLC purchased a new position in Progressive during the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Atlantic Edge Private Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Progressive by 54.7% in the 4th quarter. Atlantic Edge Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 116 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares during the period. Valley National Advisers Inc. lifted its position in shares of Progressive by 3,000.0% in the fourth quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 124 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 120 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Atala Financial Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Progressive during the fourth quarter worth approximately $32,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.34% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Progressive

In other Progressive news, CAO Carl G. Joyce sold 360 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, March 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $276.17, for a total value of $99,421.20. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 655 shares of the company's stock, valued at $180,891.35. The trade was a 35.47 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $275.94, for a total transaction of $2,759,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 258,024 shares in the company, valued at approximately $71,199,142.56. The trade was a 3.73 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 43,749 shares of company stock worth $11,786,613. Company insiders own 0.33% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Bank of America increased their target price on shares of Progressive from $289.00 to $297.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Barclays increased their price objective on Progressive from $285.00 to $297.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, April 11th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued a "market perform" rating and set a $288.00 price objective on shares of Progressive in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Progressive from $267.00 to $287.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price target on Progressive from $275.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, March 14th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $285.76.

Progressive Stock Performance

NYSE:PGR traded down $0.08 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $265.11. 1,826,933 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,635,464. The firm has a market capitalization of $155.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.38. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $274.12 and a two-hundred day moving average of $258.32. 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 Progressive Co. has a 12 month low of $201.34 and a 12 month high of $292.99.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 16th. The insurance provider reported $4.65 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.28 by $0.37. Progressive had a return on equity of 33.79% and a net margin of 11.25%. The company had revenue of $22.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $21.87 billion. On average, equities analysts forecast that The Progressive Co. will post 14.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd were given a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.15%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 3rd. Progressive's dividend payout ratio is currently 2.70%.

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.