Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich Boosts Stock Holdings in The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR)

Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich raised its holdings in shares of The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR - Free Report) by 0.9% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,665,050 shares of the insurance provider's stock after purchasing an additional 15,637 shares during the period. Progressive accounts for about 1.7% of Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich's portfolio, making the stock its 13th largest position. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich owned 0.28% of Progressive worth $514,681,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of PGR. State of Alaska Department of Revenue boosted its stake in Progressive by 2.7% in the 1st quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 68,644 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $19,426,000 after purchasing an additional 1,800 shares in the last quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in Progressive by 36.4% in the 1st quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 126,826 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $35,893,000 after purchasing an additional 33,864 shares in the last quarter. MEAG MUNICH ERGO Kapitalanlagegesellschaft mbH boosted its stake in Progressive by 498.5% in the 1st quarter. MEAG MUNICH ERGO Kapitalanlagegesellschaft mbH now owns 5,057 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $1,431,000 after purchasing an additional 4,212 shares in the last quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in Progressive in the 1st quarter worth approximately $3,141,000. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott LLC boosted its stake in Progressive by 16.5% in the 1st quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 93,463 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $26,451,000 after purchasing an additional 13,231 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.34% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently issued reports on PGR. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of Progressive from $290.00 to $280.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, July 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Progressive from $267.00 to $287.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of Progressive from $280.00 to $268.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Monday. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their target price on shares of Progressive from $327.00 to $319.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Finally, Evercore ISI cut shares of Progressive from an "outperform" rating to an "in-line" rating and set a $275.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Progressive has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $286.88.

Insider Transactions at Progressive

In other news, Director Stuart B. Burgdoerfer sold 3,681 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $260.43, for a total transaction of $958,642.83. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 12,217 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,181,673.31. This represents a 23.15% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $275.37, for a total transaction of $2,753,700.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 238,024 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $65,544,668.88. This trade represents a 4.03% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 43,972 shares of company stock worth $11,764,581 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.34% of the company's stock.

Progressive Stock Performance

NYSE:PGR traded up $0.75 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $245.88. The stock had a trading volume of 460,553 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,830,573. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $267.67 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $266.09. The Progressive Corporation has a 12-month low of $208.13 and a 12-month high of $292.99. The company has a quick ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 0.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. The stock has a market cap of $144.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.86, a P/E/G ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 0.37.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 16th. The insurance provider reported $4.88 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.43 by $0.45. Progressive had a net margin of 12.66% and a return on equity of 35.37%. The company had revenue of $20.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $20.39 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.48 EPS. The business's revenue was up 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that The Progressive Corporation will post 14.68 EPS for the current year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 11th. Investors of record on Friday, July 4th were paid a $0.10 dividend. This represents a yield of 0.15%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 3rd. Progressive's payout ratio is 2.25%.

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.

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