Humankind Investments LLC Trims Stock Holdings in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Humankind Investments LLC lowered its holdings in shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 3.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,256 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 40 shares during the quarter. Humankind Investments LLC’s holdings in Progressive were worth $301,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of PGR. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Progressive by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 53,400,366 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $12,795,262,000 after buying an additional 583,376 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Progressive by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,615,430 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $3,498,363,000 after acquiring an additional 189,638 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Progressive in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,843,045,000. Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Progressive by 13.0% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 6,179,529 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,480,677,000 after purchasing an additional 710,684 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors increased its holdings in Progressive by 34.3% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 6,058,187 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,451,602,000 after purchasing an additional 1,547,677 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Carl G. Joyce sold 360 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $276.17, for a total transaction of $99,421.20. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 655 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $180,891.35. This trade represents a 35.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $268.59, for a total value of $2,685,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 248,024 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $66,616,766.16. The trade was a 3.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 39,894 shares of company stock valued at $11,020,097 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on Progressive from $282.00 to $288.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated a “market perform” rating and set a $288.00 target price on shares of Progressive in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Progressive from $324.00 to $328.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Progressive from $310.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 29th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Progressive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, April 4th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $287.65.

Progressive Stock Performance

Shares of PGR stock opened at $284.33 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $275.16 and a 200 day moving average of $260.37. The Progressive Co. has a 1 year low of $201.34 and a 1 year high of $292.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 0.31 and a quick ratio of 0.30. The firm has a market capitalization of $166.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.40.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 16th. The insurance provider reported $4.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.28 by $0.37. Progressive had a return on equity of 33.79% and a net margin of 11.25%. The firm had revenue of $22.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $21.87 billion. As a group, research analysts expect that The Progressive Co. will post 14.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd were paid a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 3rd. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.14%. Progressive’s payout ratio is currently 2.70%.

Progressive 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.