Insider Selling: The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) Insider Sells 4,669 Shares of Stock

The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR - Get Free Report) insider Patrick K. Callahan sold 4,669 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $279.70, for a total value of $1,305,919.30. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 15,191 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,248,922.70. The trade was a 23.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link.

Progressive Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:PGR traded up $1.62 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $279.17. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,094,600 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,650,291. The Progressive Co. has a fifty-two week low of $199.54 and a fifty-two week high of $287.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a current ratio of 0.31. The stock has a market capitalization of $163.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.37, a PEG ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.35. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $256.53 and its 200 day simple moving average is $253.50.

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

Remove Ads

Progressive Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be issued a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.14%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 3rd. Progressive's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 2.78%.

Institutional Trading of Progressive

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Progressive by 1.1% during the fourth 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 during the period. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Progressive by 1.3% during 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 during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Progressive by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,615,430 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $3,498,363,000 after purchasing an additional 189,638 shares during the period. FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of Progressive by 1.6% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 10,518,615 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $2,669,204,000 after purchasing an additional 170,618 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in Progressive in the fourth quarter worth $1,843,045,000. 85.34% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PGR has been the topic of several recent research reports. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Progressive from $300.00 to $307.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price target on shares of Progressive from $295.00 to $294.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Progressive from $313.00 to $317.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Hsbc Global Res cut Progressive from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Roth Mkm upped their target price on Progressive from $290.00 to $315.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $277.82.

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.