Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. Lowers Stock Holdings in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. cut its position in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 18.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,460,259 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 341,139 shares during the quarter. Progressive accounts for 2.5% of Brown Brothers Harriman & Co.’s holdings, making the stock its 13th largest holding. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. owned approximately 0.25% of Progressive worth $349,893,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its stake in Progressive by 98.2% during the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 789 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $189,000 after purchasing an additional 391 shares during the period. Townsquare Capital LLC increased its stake in Progressive by 90.9% during the 3rd quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 7,813 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,983,000 after buying an additional 3,720 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its holdings in Progressive by 2,262.4% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 433,999 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $103,990,000 after buying an additional 415,628 shares in the last quarter. Signal Advisors Wealth LLC boosted its position in Progressive by 42.3% in the 4th quarter. Signal Advisors Wealth LLC now owns 11,889 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,849,000 after buying an additional 3,534 shares during the period. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB grew its stake in shares of Progressive by 30.5% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,069,697 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $255,882,000 after acquiring an additional 249,958 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Susan Patricia Griffith sold 9,066 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction on Friday, January 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $242.10, for a total value of $2,194,878.60. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 473,736 shares in the company, valued at $114,691,485.60. This trade represents a 1.88 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Devin C. Johnson sold 400 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $275.04, for a total transaction of $110,016.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 8,370 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,302,084.80. The trade was a 4.56 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 66,255 shares of company stock valued at $16,877,471 over the last quarter. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Progressive Trading Up 1.6 %

PGR opened at $279.13 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $163.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.35. The Progressive Co. has a 52 week low of $201.34 and a 52 week high of $292.99. The business’s 50 day moving average is $265.32 and its two-hundred day moving average is $255.82. The company has a quick ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 0.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The insurance provider reported $4.08 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.44 by $0.64. Progressive had a net margin of 11.25% and a return on equity of 33.79%. On average, research analysts predict that The Progressive Co. will post 14.68 EPS 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 paid a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 3rd. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.14%. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 2.78%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Raymond James upgraded Progressive from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $305.00 target price for the company in a report on Thursday, December 26th. Barclays boosted their price objective on Progressive from $264.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. Hsbc Global Res lowered shares of Progressive from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Bank of America decreased their price target on shares of Progressive from $318.00 to $300.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on shares of Progressive from $294.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $281.06.

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.