Plato Investment Management Ltd Trims Holdings in The Progressive Corporation $PGR

Plato Investment Management Ltd trimmed its holdings in shares of The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) by 21.7% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 21,388 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 5,916 shares during the quarter. Plato Investment Management Ltd’s holdings in Progressive were worth $6,119,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Progressive by 1.2% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 54,022,956 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $15,289,037,000 after buying an additional 622,590 shares during the period. GQG Partners LLC grew its stake in Progressive by 61.4% in the 1st quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 8,346,133 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,362,039,000 after acquiring an additional 3,174,632 shares in the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. increased its position in shares of Progressive by 15.2% during the first quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 8,263,157 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,338,556,000 after acquiring an additional 1,091,828 shares during the period. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC increased its position in shares of Progressive by 6.6% during the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 6,380,134 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,805,642,000 after acquiring an additional 396,567 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its stake in shares of Progressive by 18.1% during the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 5,983,567 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,433,722,000 after acquiring an additional 915,643 shares in the last quarter. 85.34% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Progressive news, insider Steven Broz sold 1,345 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction on Friday, August 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.78, for a total value of $337,299.10. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 31,733 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,958,001.74. The trade was a 4.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Lori A. Niederst sold 8,063 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.18, for a total value of $2,017,201.34. Following the sale, the insider owned 39,040 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,767,027.20. This represents a 17.12% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 139,010 shares of company stock valued at $34,547,699 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently issued reports on PGR shares. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on Progressive from $281.00 to $279.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 21st. Barclays lowered their target price on Progressive from $287.00 to $281.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, August 19th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on Progressive from $330.00 to $327.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 21st. Citigroup reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Progressive in a research note on Friday, August 29th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group dropped their target price on shares of Progressive from $309.00 to $287.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 11th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $284.18.

Progressive Price Performance

Shares of PGR stock opened at $243.27 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $247.14 and its 200 day moving average is $265.25. The Progressive Corporation has a 1-year low of $228.54 and a 1-year high of $292.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 0.31 and a quick ratio of 0.31. The company has a market cap of $142.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.71, a PEG ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 0.32.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 16th. The insurance provider reported $4.88 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.43 by $0.45. Progressive had a net margin of 12.66% and a return on equity of 35.37%. The business had revenue of $20.08 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $20.39 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.48 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that The Progressive Corporation will post 14.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 2nd will be given a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 2nd. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.2%. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio is presently 2.25%.

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.