Legal & General Group Plc Trims Stock Position in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Legal & General Group Plc trimmed its holdings in shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 19.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 3,791,506 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 926,989 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc owned about 0.65% of Progressive worth $908,483,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of PGR. Webster Bank N. A. acquired a new stake in shares of Progressive during the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. Hager Investment Management Services LLC purchased a new position in Progressive in the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Atlantic Edge Private Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Progressive by 54.7% during the 4th quarter. Atlantic Edge Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 116 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Progressive by 3,000.0% during the fourth quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 124 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 120 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Atala Financial Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Progressive during the fourth quarter worth about $32,000. 85.34% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Progressive Stock Down 10.4 %

Shares of NYSE:PGR opened at $257.27 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $150.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a 50 day moving average of $269.14 and a two-hundred day moving average of $256.73. The company has a quick ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 0.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. The Progressive Co. has a 52-week low of $201.34 and a 52-week high of $292.99.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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%. As a group, analysts forecast that The Progressive Co. will post 14.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.16%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 3rd. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 2.78%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the stock. HSBC lowered shares of 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. StockNews.com lowered Progressive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Progressive from $300.00 to $307.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Roth Mkm upped their price objective on shares of Progressive from $290.00 to $315.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Progressive from $275.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, March 14th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $280.29.

Insider Transactions at Progressive

In related news, Director Jeffrey D. Kelly sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total transaction of $2,500,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 27,741 shares in the company, valued at $6,935,250. This trade represents a 26.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Susan Patricia Griffith sold 11,021 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $243.29, for a total transaction of $2,681,299.09. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 473,736 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $115,255,231.44. The trade was a 2.27 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 56,317 shares of company stock valued at $14,844,282. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.