Meiji Yasuda America Inc Buys Shares of 19,701 The Progressive Corporation $PGR

Meiji Yasuda America Inc bought a new stake in The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 19,701 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $4,486,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Xponance LLC lifted its holdings in Progressive by 4.3% in the fourth quarter. Xponance LLC now owns 124,790 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $28,417,000 after acquiring an additional 5,202 shares during the period. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd lifted its holdings in Progressive by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd now owns 44,960 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $10,238,000 after acquiring an additional 763 shares during the period. Parnassus Investments LLC lifted its holdings in Progressive by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 455,850 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $103,806,000 after acquiring an additional 8,775 shares during the period. TCTC Holdings LLC lifted its holdings in Progressive by 29.7% in the fourth quarter. TCTC Holdings LLC now owns 10,914 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,485,000 after acquiring an additional 2,498 shares during the period. Finally, SmartHarvest Portfolios LLC acquired a new stake in Progressive in the fourth quarter valued at $561,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Progressive Trading Down 0.9%

NYSE:PGR opened at $202.41 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $118.27 billion, a PE ratio of 10.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.92 and a beta of 0.28. The company has a quick ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 0.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The Progressive Corporation has a 52-week low of $189.20 and a 52-week high of $269.84. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $199.01 and a 200-day simple moving average of $208.09.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 15th. The insurance provider reported $4.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.67 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $22.19 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $23.51 billion. Progressive had a return on equity of 33.47% and a net margin of 12.92%.The business’s revenue was up 6.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $4.37 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that The Progressive Corporation will post 16.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have commented on PGR. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Progressive in a report on Friday, May 22nd. Zacks Research raised Progressive from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 24th. UBS Group raised their target price on Progressive from $218.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, March 23rd. Roth Mkm set a $235.00 price target on Progressive in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. Finally, Evercore reaffirmed a “negative” rating on shares of Progressive in a research note on Wednesday, March 18th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $238.11.

Insider Buying and Selling at Progressive

In other Progressive news, CAO Carl G. Joyce sold 270 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $206.50, for a total value of $55,755.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 558 shares in the company, valued at $115,227. The trade was a 32.61% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider John Jo Murphy sold 5,916 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $200.00, for a total value of $1,183,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 41,290 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,258,000. This trade represents a 12.53% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 7,343 shares of company stock worth $1,470,355 in the last 90 days. 0.32% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.