Banque Cantonale Vaudoise Increases Stock Holdings in The Progressive Corporation $PGR

Banque Cantonale Vaudoise increased its holdings in shares of The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) by 159.6% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 33,047 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 20,318 shares during the period. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise’s holdings in Progressive were worth $7,526,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PGR. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund raised its holdings in Progressive by 30.2% in the third quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 102,778 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $25,381,000 after acquiring an additional 23,833 shares in the last quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors grew its holdings in Progressive by 471.3% during the 3rd quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors now owns 22,496 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $5,556,000 after acquiring an additional 18,558 shares in the last quarter. Prospera Financial Services Inc increased its position in shares of Progressive by 36.9% in the 3rd quarter. Prospera Financial Services Inc now owns 19,240 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $4,752,000 after purchasing an additional 5,184 shares during the last quarter. Rakuten Investment Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Progressive in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $64,063,000. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Progressive by 19.9% in the 3rd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 629,095 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $155,355,000 after purchasing an additional 104,563 shares in the last quarter. 85.34% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Progressive

In related news, insider Karen Bailo sold 3,517 shares of the 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 completion of the sale, the insider directly 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. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CIO Jonathan S. Bauer sold 2,266 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $203.05, for a total transaction of $460,111.30. Following the completion of the sale, the executive owned 26,250 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,330,062.50. The trade was a 7.95% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders have sold 6,933 shares of company stock valued at $1,441,564. Company insiders own 0.32% of the company’s stock.

Progressive Stock Performance

Shares of PGR stock opened at $203.02 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $200.73 and its two-hundred day moving average is $210.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 0.27 and a current ratio of 0.27. The Progressive Corporation has a 1 year low of $191.75 and a 1 year high of $289.96. The firm has a market cap of $118.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.32, a PEG ratio of 5.90 and a beta of 0.31.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 15th. The insurance provider reported $4.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.67 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $22.19 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $23.51 billion. Progressive had a return on equity of 33.47% and a net margin of 12.92%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $4.37 earnings per share. Analysts predict that The Progressive Corporation will post 16.4 earnings per share for the current year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The firm 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 of this dividend is Thursday, July 2nd. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 2.03%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently issued reports on PGR. Evercore reaffirmed a “negative” rating on shares of Progressive in a research report on Wednesday, March 18th. Barclays set a $247.00 price target on Progressive in a research note on Wednesday, March 18th. Citigroup decreased their price target on Progressive from $300.60 to $261.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 3rd. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on Progressive from $208.00 to $221.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. Finally, Roth Mkm set a $235.00 price objective on Progressive in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $238.39.

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.