AIA Group Ltd Lowers Position in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

AIA Group Ltd trimmed its position in shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 10.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 137,669 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 15,248 shares during the quarter. AIA Group Ltd’s holdings in Progressive were worth $32,987,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Progressive by 1.1% in 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 purchasing an additional 583,376 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its stake in Progressive by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 24,683,807 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $6,263,763,000 after acquiring an additional 315,411 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Progressive by 13.2% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,425,792 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $3,652,235,000 after purchasing an additional 1,682,213 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Progressive in the fourth quarter valued at $1,843,045,000. Finally, GQG Partners LLC increased its position in Progressive by 67.6% during the 4th quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 5,171,501 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,239,143,000 after purchasing an additional 2,085,833 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, 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 completion of the sale, the director now owns 8,370 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,302,084.80. This represents a 4.56 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Andrew J. Quigg sold 681 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $242.10, for a total transaction of $164,870.10. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 33,612 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,137,465.20. This represents a 1.99 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 56,255 shares of company stock valued at $14,490,871. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently weighed in on PGR. HSBC lowered Progressive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $267.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Hsbc Global Res lowered shares of Progressive from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Progressive from $313.00 to $317.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Barclays increased their target price on Progressive from $264.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 13th. Finally, UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Progressive from $275.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, March 14th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Progressive presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $281.06.

Progressive Price Performance

Shares of PGR opened at $279.13 on Monday. The Progressive Co. has a fifty-two week low of $201.34 and a fifty-two week high of $292.99. The firm has a market capitalization of $163.64 billion, a PE ratio of 19.38, a PEG ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.35. The company’s 50-day moving average is $265.32 and its 200-day moving average is $255.91. 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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.44 by $0.64. Progressive had a net margin of 11.25% and a return on equity of 33.79%. Equities analysts forecast that The Progressive Co. will post 14.68 EPS for the current year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

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

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.