Commerce Bank Cuts Position in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Commerce Bank lessened its stake in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 1.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 40,687 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 398 shares during the quarter. Commerce Bank’s holdings in Progressive were worth $6,481,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PGR. Private Advisor Group LLC increased its holdings in Progressive by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 9,245 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,288,000 after acquiring an additional 156 shares in the last quarter. NBC Securities Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Progressive in the third quarter worth approximately $298,000. Lincoln National Corp boosted its position in shares of Progressive by 13.0% in the third quarter. Lincoln National Corp now owns 3,033 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $423,000 after acquiring an additional 349 shares during the last quarter. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC boosted its position in shares of Progressive by 16.2% in the third quarter. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC now owns 3,899 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $543,000 after acquiring an additional 544 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund boosted its position in shares of Progressive by 143.4% in the third quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 82,512 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $11,494,000 after acquiring an additional 48,617 shares during the last quarter. 85.34% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Progressive Trading Up 0.4 %

PGR opened at $203.91 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $119.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.87, a P/E/G ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 0.34. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $208.92 and its 200-day moving average is $185.41. The Progressive Co. has a 52-week low of $111.41 and a 52-week high of $217.77. The company has a quick ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 0.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 12th. The insurance provider reported $3.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.20 by $0.74. The company had revenue of $18.96 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.88 billion. Progressive had a net margin of 8.89% and a return on equity of 29.43%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 17.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.65 earnings per share. Analysts expect that The Progressive Co. will post 11.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 12th. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 3rd will be paid a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, July 3rd. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.20%. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 4.09%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Devin C. Johnson sold 1,000 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.33, for a total value of $208,330.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 7,176 shares in the company, valued at $1,494,976.08. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, Director Devin C. Johnson sold 1,000 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.33, for a total value of $208,330.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 7,176 shares in the company, valued at $1,494,976.08. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Steven Broz sold 7,361 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $207.25, for a total transaction of $1,525,567.25. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 35,503 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,357,996.75. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 16,825 shares of company stock worth $3,337,741. Insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Progressive from $228.00 to $247.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. HSBC raised their target price on shares of Progressive from $174.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 28th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on shares of Progressive from $241.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 15th. Roth Mkm raised their target price on shares of Progressive from $215.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 18th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Progressive from $216.00 to $218.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Progressive currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $215.19.

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.