Forsta AP Fonden Purchases 4,000 Shares of The Progressive Corporation $PGR

Forsta AP Fonden raised its position in shares of The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) by 1.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 210,000 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,000 shares during the period. Forsta AP Fonden’s holdings in Progressive were worth $47,821,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Progressive by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 55,261,140 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $12,584,067,000 after buying an additional 593,612 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of Progressive by 0.3% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 25,808,762 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $6,373,474,000 after buying an additional 78,374 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors raised its position in shares of Progressive by 78.9% in the third quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 13,704,197 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $3,384,082,000 after buying an additional 6,045,732 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors raised its position in shares of Progressive by 26.1% in the third quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 11,167,940 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,757,905,000 after buying an additional 2,314,864 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Progressive in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,836,094,000. 85.34% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on PGR. Citigroup dropped their price target on shares of Progressive from $300.60 to $261.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Progressive in a research report on Friday, May 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price target on shares of Progressive from $216.00 to $215.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 24th. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $208.00 price target on shares of Progressive in a research report on Friday, May 22nd. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of Progressive from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 24th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $238.11.

Progressive Stock Down 2.2%

Shares of PGR opened at $190.27 on Friday. The Progressive Corporation has a one year low of $189.20 and a one year high of $289.96. The company has a market cap of $111.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.67, a P/E/G ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 0.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 0.27 and a quick ratio of 0.27. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $199.66 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $209.74.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 15th. The insurance provider reported $4.80 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.67 by $0.13. Progressive had a net margin of 12.92% and a return on equity of 33.47%. The business had revenue of $22.19 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $23.51 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $4.37 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 6.5% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that The Progressive Corporation will post 16.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 2nd will be given a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 2nd. Progressive’s payout ratio is currently 2.03%.

Insider Activity at Progressive

In other news, CAO Carl G. Joyce sold 270 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $206.50, for a total transaction of $55,755.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 558 shares in the company, valued at approximately $115,227. This represents a 32.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Karen Bailo sold 3,517 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $212.00, for a total transaction of $745,604.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 32,348 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,857,776. This trade represents a 9.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 3,928 shares of company stock valued at $831,251. Company insiders own 0.32% of the company’s stock.

About Progressive

Progressive Corporation is a large U.S.-based property and casualty insurer that primarily underwrites personal auto insurance along with a broad suite of related products. Its offerings include coverage for private passenger automobiles, commercial auto fleets, motorcycles, boats and recreational vehicles, as well as homeowners, renters, umbrella and other specialty P&C products. Progressive also provides claims handling, risk management and related services to individual and commercial policyholders.

The company distributes its products through a mix of direct channels—online and by phone—and an extensive independent agent network.