950 Shares in The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) Acquired by Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG

Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG bought a new position in shares of The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund bought 950 shares of the insurance provider's stock, valued at approximately $269,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Hennessy Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Progressive during the 1st quarter valued at about $3,141,000. MEAG MUNICH ERGO Kapitalanlagegesellschaft mbH raised its holdings in Progressive by 498.5% in the first 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. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Progressive by 3.4% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 16,199 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $3,881,000 after purchasing an additional 527 shares during the last quarter. Allstate Corp purchased a new position in Progressive during the fourth quarter valued at $4,205,000. Finally, Baird Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in Progressive by 3.1% in the 4th quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,667,903 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $878,866,000 after purchasing an additional 111,659 shares in the last quarter. 85.34% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Progressive Trading Up 0.4%

Shares of PGR traded up $0.93 during trading on Friday, reaching $261.26. 8,571,613 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,715,317. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $275.63 and a 200-day simple moving average of $264.45. The stock has a market cap of $153.15 billion, a PE ratio of 17.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 0.40. The Progressive Corporation has a twelve month low of $204.88 and a twelve month high of $292.99. The company has a quick ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 0.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 16th. The insurance provider reported $4.65 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.28 by $0.37. Progressive had a return on equity of 33.50% and a net margin of 11.10%. The business had revenue of $22.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $21.87 billion. On average, analysts anticipate that The Progressive Corporation will post 14.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Progressive

In related news, insider Steven Broz sold 1,267 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $277.81, for a total value of $351,985.27. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 28,888 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,025,375.28. The trade was a 4.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $275.94, for a total transaction of $2,759,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 258,024 shares of the company's stock, valued at $71,199,142.56. This represents a 3.73% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 34,157 shares of company stock valued at $9,352,400 in the last three months. 0.34% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on PGR shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Progressive from $267.00 to $287.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. UBS Group lifted their target price on Progressive from $285.00 to $291.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 28th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on Progressive from $282.00 to $288.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Progressive from $328.00 to $333.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on Progressive from $285.00 to $297.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Progressive currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $288.88.

About Progressive

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.