Royal London Asset Management Ltd. Sells 84,631 Shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Royal London Asset Management Ltd. decreased its stake in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 5.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,595,870 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 84,631 shares during the period. Progressive comprises about 0.9% of Royal London Asset Management Ltd.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 19th biggest position. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. owned 0.27% of Progressive worth $382,386,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in PGR. Atlantic Edge Private Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Progressive by 54.7% during the fourth 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 in the last quarter. LRI Investments LLC raised its holdings in shares of Progressive by 16.5% during the 3rd quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 296 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $76,000 after buying an additional 42 shares in the last quarter. SYM FINANCIAL Corp lifted its position in Progressive by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. SYM FINANCIAL Corp now owns 1,602 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $384,000 after buying an additional 44 shares during the last quarter. Monument Capital Management boosted its stake in Progressive by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Monument Capital Management now owns 13,762 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $3,298,000 after buying an additional 44 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kelleher Financial Advisors boosted its stake in Progressive by 4.7% in the fourth quarter. Kelleher Financial Advisors now owns 995 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $238,000 after buying an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on shares of Progressive from $273.00 to $267.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, December 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price target on shares of Progressive from $295.00 to $294.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 10th. HSBC cut Progressive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $267.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Progressive from $251.00 to $256.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on Progressive from $264.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $281.76.

Insider Activity at Progressive

In other news, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $238.66, for a total transaction of $2,386,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 282,958 shares in the company, valued at approximately $67,530,756.28. This trade represents a 3.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CIO Jonathan S. Bauer sold 1,696 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $282.66, for a total value of $479,391.36. Following the completion of the sale, the executive now directly owns 26,697 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,546,174.02. This represents a 5.97 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 65,495 shares of company stock valued at $16,668,034 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Progressive Price Performance

Shares of NYSE PGR opened at $273.19 on Thursday. The Progressive Co. has a 1 year low of $201.34 and a 1 year high of $292.99. The stock has a market capitalization of $160.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.97, a P/E/G ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.35. The company’s 50-day moving average is $260.59 and its 200 day moving average is $254.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 0.31 and a quick ratio of 0.30.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The insurance provider reported $4.08 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that The Progressive Co. will post 14.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be given a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.15%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 3rd. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio is presently 2.78%.

Progressive Company 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.