Progressive (NYSE:PGR) Insider Sells $1,183,200.00 in Stock

The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) insider John Jo Murphy sold 5,916 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $200.00, for a total transaction of $1,183,200.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 41,290 shares in the company, valued at $8,258,000. The trade was a 12.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Progressive Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:PGR opened at $204.12 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $119.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.38, a PEG ratio of 5.80 and a beta of 0.28. The Progressive Corporation has a 12 month low of $189.20 and a 12 month high of $269.84. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $198.93 and its 200 day moving average is $208.26. The company has a current ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 0.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 15th. The insurance provider reported $4.80 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.67 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $22.19 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $23.51 billion. Progressive had a net margin of 12.92% and a return on equity of 33.47%. The firm’s revenue was up 6.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $4.37 EPS. Research analysts predict that The Progressive Corporation will post 16.35 EPS for the current year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 2nd will be given a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 2nd. Progressive’s payout ratio is 2.03%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Progressive

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Progressive by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 55,261,140 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $12,584,067,000 after purchasing an additional 593,612 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of Progressive by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 25,808,762 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $6,373,474,000 after purchasing an additional 78,374 shares during the period. Capital International Investors lifted its position in shares of Progressive by 8.9% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 14,921,724 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $3,398,123,000 after purchasing an additional 1,217,527 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its position in shares of Progressive by 26.1% in the 3rd quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 11,167,940 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,757,905,000 after purchasing an additional 2,314,864 shares during the period. Finally, GQG Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Progressive by 11.7% in the 4th quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 10,432,549 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,375,706,000 after purchasing an additional 1,092,151 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have issued reports on PGR. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Progressive in a research report on Friday, May 22nd. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Progressive from $205.00 to $190.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 31st. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Progressive from $218.00 to $222.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 21st. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Progressive from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Progressive from $218.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, March 23rd. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Progressive currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $238.11.

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.