Progressive (NYSE:PGR) CEO Susan Patricia Griffith Sells 37,338 Shares of Stock

The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) CEO Susan Patricia Griffith sold 37,338 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $219.50, for a total value of $8,195,691.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 485,438 shares in the company, valued at $106,553,641. This trade represents a 7.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Susan Patricia Griffith also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Monday, July 27th, Susan Patricia Griffith sold 37,338 shares of Progressive stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $212.71, for a total value of $7,942,165.98.

Progressive Trading Up 0.4%

PGR stock opened at $221.38 on Thursday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $217.51 and a 200 day moving average price of $207.58. The Progressive Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $189.20 and a fifty-two week high of $249.83. The firm has a market cap of $128.70 billion, a PE ratio of 11.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.94 and a beta of 0.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a quick ratio of 0.29 and a current ratio of 0.29.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 15th. The insurance provider reported $5.67 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.64 by $1.03. Progressive had a net margin of 12.84% and a return on equity of 32.92%. The business had revenue of $23.61 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $19.49 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $5.40 earnings per share. Progressive’s quarterly revenue was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that The Progressive Corporation will post 17.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 9th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 1st will be given a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 1st. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.2%. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 2.01%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PGR has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $208.00 target price on Progressive in a report on Friday, May 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Progressive from $198.00 to $201.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 20th. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Progressive from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $190.00 to $210.00 in a research report on Friday, July 24th. BMO Capital Markets reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Progressive in a research note on Wednesday, August 19th. Finally, Bank of America dropped their price target on shares of Progressive from $313.00 to $308.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $236.26.

Institutional Trading of Progressive

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. California State Teachers Retirement System grew its holdings in shares of Progressive by 23,059.4% in the second quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 199,767,282 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $43,639,163,000 after purchasing an additional 198,904,705 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in Progressive during the 2nd quarter valued at about $10,496,271,000. Bank of America Corp DE purchased a new stake in Progressive in the 2nd quarter valued at about $2,682,342,000. Norges Bank bought a new position in Progressive in the 4th quarter worth about $1,836,094,000. Finally, GQG Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Progressive during the second quarter worth approximately $1,538,570,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.34% 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.