John P. Sauerland Sells 10,000 Shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) Stock

The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $275.94, for a total transaction of $2,759,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 258,024 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $71,199,142.56. The trade was a 3.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link.

Progressive Price Performance

NYSE PGR traded up $4.58 on Monday, hitting $283.44. The stock had a trading volume of 4,771,241 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,578,708. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $265.32 and a 200-day moving average of $255.91. The company has a market capitalization of $166.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a current ratio of 0.31. The Progressive Co. has a 52-week low of $201.34 and a 52-week high of $292.99.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The insurance provider reported $4.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.44 by $0.64. Progressive had a return on equity of 33.79% and a net margin of 11.25%. Equities analysts expect that The Progressive Co. will post 14.68 EPS for the current year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. Raymond James raised Progressive from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $305.00 price target for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 26th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on Progressive from $294.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. HSBC lowered shares of Progressive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $267.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. StockNews.com raised shares of Progressive from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, March 22nd. Finally, Roth Mkm upped their price objective on Progressive from $290.00 to $315.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $281.06.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Townsquare Capital LLC lifted its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 3,720 shares during the last quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Progressive during the 3rd quarter valued at about $230,000. Captrust Financial Advisors lifted its position in Progressive by 2.7% in the 3rd quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 30,748 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $7,803,000 after buying an additional 806 shares during the last quarter. True Wealth Design LLC boosted its stake in Progressive by 142.9% in the third quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 464 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $118,000 after buying an additional 273 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Erste Asset Management GmbH purchased a new position in shares of Progressive during the third quarter worth approximately $125,044,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

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.