Bamco Inc. NY Reduces Stock Holdings in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Bamco Inc. NY lowered its stake in shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR - Free Report) by 12.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 10,100 shares of the insurance provider's stock after selling 1,500 shares during the period. Bamco Inc. NY's holdings in Progressive were worth $2,420,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of PGR. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Progressive by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 53,400,366 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $12,795,262,000 after purchasing an additional 583,376 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Progressive by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,615,430 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $3,498,363,000 after buying an additional 189,638 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Progressive during the fourth quarter worth $1,843,045,000. Northern Trust Corp raised its position in Progressive by 13.0% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 6,179,529 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $1,480,677,000 after acquiring an additional 710,684 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors increased its position in Progressive by 34.3% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 6,058,187 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $1,451,602,000 after buying an additional 1,547,677 shares in the last quarter. 85.34% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently commented on PGR shares. StockNews.com lowered shares of Progressive from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, April 4th. UBS Group lifted their target price on Progressive from $275.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Progressive from $310.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 29th. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Progressive from $285.00 to $297.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Progressive from $324.00 to $328.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Progressive has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $287.65.

Progressive Stock Performance

PGR traded up $0.41 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $284.33. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,542,707 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,625,669. The company's 50-day moving average is $275.13 and its 200-day moving average is $260.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a current ratio of 0.31. The firm has a market cap of $166.68 billion, a PE ratio of 19.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.40. The Progressive Co. has a 52 week low of $201.34 and a 52 week high of $292.99.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 16th. The insurance provider reported $4.65 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $4.28 by $0.37. The firm had revenue of $22.21 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $21.87 billion. Progressive had a return on equity of 33.79% and a net margin of 11.25%. On average, equities analysts forecast that The Progressive Co. will post 14.68 EPS for the current year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd were paid a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.14%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 3rd. Progressive's dividend payout ratio is 2.70%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Progressive news, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, April 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $268.59, for a total value of $2,685,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 248,024 shares in the company, valued at $66,616,766.16. This represents a 3.88 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Patrick K. Callahan sold 4,669 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $279.70, for a total value of $1,305,919.30. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 15,191 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,248,922.70. This represents a 23.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 39,894 shares of company stock worth $11,020,097. Corporate insiders own 0.34% of the company's stock.

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.