Banque Pictet & Cie SA Reduces Stock Position in The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR)

Banque Pictet & Cie SA reduced its holdings in The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR - Free Report) by 18.7% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor 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 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Progressive by 5.6% during the 1st quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,411 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $399,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group lifted 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 during the period. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC lifted 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 during the period. Principal Securities Inc. lifted 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 during the period. Finally, Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC lifted its position in shares of Progressive by 8.7% during the 1st quarter. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC now owns 4,284 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $1,212,000 after buying an additional 344 shares during the period. 85.34% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Wall Street Zen upgraded Progressive from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, June 21st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on Progressive from $288.00 to $290.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Progressive from $267.00 to $287.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Progressive from $282.00 to $288.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, Morgan Stanley downgraded Progressive from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and cut their price objective for the company from $330.00 to $290.00 in a research report on Monday. Eight equities 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 a consensus price target of $285.41.

Insider Buying and Selling at Progressive

In other Progressive news, Director Dyke Kahina Van sold 2,490 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $277.67, for a total transaction of $691,398.30. Following the sale, the director owned 12,429 shares in the company, valued at $3,451,160.43. This represents a 16.69% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Stuart B. Burgdoerfer sold 3,681 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, June 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $260.43, for a total value of $958,642.83. Following the sale, the director owned 12,217 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,181,673.31. This represents a 23.15% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 42,705 shares of company stock valued at $11,450,948 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.34% of the company's stock.

Progressive Stock Down 0.5%

PGR traded down $1.29 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $249.13. 4,289,710 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,807,988. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a quick ratio of 0.29 and a current ratio of 0.29. The company's fifty day moving average price is $272.83 and its 200 day moving average price is $265.51. The company has a market cap of $146.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 0.37. The Progressive Corporation has a one year low of $207.50 and a one year high of $292.99.

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

Progressive Announces Dividend

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

Progressive Company 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.