Banque Pictet & Cie SA Sells 2,800 Shares of The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR)

Banque Pictet & Cie SA lessened its stake in The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR - Free Report) by 18.7% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 12,150 shares of the insurance provider's stock after selling 2,800 shares during the period. Banque Pictet & Cie SA's holdings in Progressive were worth $3,439,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Progressive by 5.6% in the 1st quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,411 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $399,000 after buying an additional 75 shares during the period. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group raised its position in shares of Progressive by 14.3% in the 1st quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group now owns 1,735 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $491,000 after acquiring an additional 217 shares in the last quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC raised its position in shares of Progressive by 186.2% in the 1st quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 249 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $66,000 after acquiring an additional 162 shares in the last quarter. Principal Securities Inc. raised its position in shares of Progressive by 6.8% in the 1st quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 18,357 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $5,195,000 after acquiring an additional 1,171 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC raised its position in shares of Progressive by 8.7% in the 1st quarter. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC now owns 4,284 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $1,212,000 after acquiring an additional 344 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 85.34% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Progressive

In other news, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $275.37, for a total value of $2,753,700.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 238,024 shares in the company, valued at $65,544,668.88. This trade represents a 4.03% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider John Jo Murphy sold 4,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $260.38, for a total value of $1,041,520.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 41,289 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $10,750,829.82. This trade represents a 8.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 42,705 shares of company stock worth $11,450,948. Company insiders own 0.34% of the company's stock.

Progressive Stock Down 1.7%

PGR traded down $4.17 during trading on Friday, hitting $245.21. 1,630,923 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,204,344. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $272.26 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $265.57. The company has a current ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. The Progressive Corporation has a 12-month low of $208.13 and a 12-month high of $292.99. The stock has a market capitalization of $143.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.53, a PEG ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 0.37.

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

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 11th. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 4th will be paid a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 3rd. This represents a dividend yield of 0.15%. Progressive's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 2.70%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on PGR shares. Bank of America raised Progressive from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $312.00 target price for the company in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Progressive from $328.00 to $333.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, June 20th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their target price on Progressive from $327.00 to $319.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on Progressive from $288.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, UBS Group reduced their price objective on Progressive from $291.00 to $280.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $285.41.

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.