River Road Asset Management LLC Reduces Position in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

River Road Asset Management LLC decreased its stake in shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 16.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 298,399 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 57,046 shares during the period. River Road Asset Management LLC owned 0.05% of Progressive worth $47,529,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of PGR. Oakworth Capital Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Progressive by 22.2% during the fourth quarter. Oakworth Capital Inc. now owns 643 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $102,000 after purchasing an additional 117 shares during the last quarter. Financial Strategies Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Progressive by 8.6% during the fourth quarter. Financial Strategies Group Inc. now owns 23,724 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $3,779,000 after purchasing an additional 1,883 shares during the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank boosted its holdings in shares of Progressive by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 210,460 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $33,522,000 after purchasing an additional 4,443 shares during the last quarter. Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Progressive during the fourth quarter worth $211,000. Finally, Donaldson Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Progressive by 13.2% during the fourth quarter. Donaldson Capital Management LLC now owns 13,698 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,182,000 after purchasing an additional 1,596 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. HSBC raised their price objective on Progressive from $174.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, March 28th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on Progressive from $241.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on Progressive from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Progressive from $232.00 to $238.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on Progressive from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 25th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $211.88.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Progressive news, insider Karen Bailo sold 8,464 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $189.49, for a total value of $1,603,843.36. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 32,342 shares in the company, valued at $6,128,485.58. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Progressive news, insider Patrick K. Callahan sold 29,675 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.26, for a total value of $5,645,965.50. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 15,189 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,889,859.14. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Karen Bailo sold 8,464 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $189.49, for a total value of $1,603,843.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 32,342 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,128,485.58. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Progressive Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE PGR traded up $0.77 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $209.12. 3,554,562 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,596,711. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 0.36 and a quick ratio of 0.31. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $198.20 and its 200-day moving average price is $174.08. The firm has a market cap of $122.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.33, a PEG ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 0.35. The Progressive Co. has a twelve month low of $111.41 and a twelve month high of $212.24.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 12th. The insurance provider reported $3.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.20 by $0.74. The business had revenue of $18.96 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.88 billion. Progressive had a return on equity of 29.43% and a net margin of 8.89%. The business’s revenue was up 17.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.65 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that The Progressive Co. will post 10.73 EPS for the current year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 4th were given a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, April 3rd. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.19%. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 4.09%.

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.