Danske Bank A S Cuts Stock Holdings in The Progressive Corporation $PGR

Key Points

• Danske Bank A/S reduced its stake in The Progressive Corporation by 31.2% in Q4, selling 194,813 shares and leaving it with 429,837 shares worth about $97.9 million (0.07% of Progressive).
• Progressive reported quarterly EPS of $4.80, beating estimates by $0.13, while revenue of $22.19 billion missed consensus of $23.51 billion.
• Analysts have a consensus rating of Hold on Progressive (6 Buy, 14 Hold, 2 Sell) with an average price target of $238.39.

Danske Bank A S decreased its holdings in shares of The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR - Free Report) by 31.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 429,837 shares of the insurance provider's stock after selling 194,813 shares during the quarter. Danske Bank A S owned 0.07% of Progressive worth $97,882,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Davis Capital Management purchased a new position in shares of Progressive during the third quarter worth about $25,000. Dagco Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Progressive during the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. Ameriflex Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Progressive by 106.6% during the third quarter. Ameriflex Group Inc. now owns 126 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. Bangor Savings Bank grew its holdings in shares of Progressive by 60.4% during the fourth quarter. Bangor Savings Bank now owns 154 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Riverview Trust Co grew its holdings in shares of Progressive by 48.6% during the fourth quarter. Riverview Trust Co now owns 162 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.34% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Progressive from $215.00 to $218.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, April 16th. HSBC lowered Progressive from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, January 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price objective on Progressive from $227.00 to $210.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 7th. Evercore reaffirmed a "negative" rating on shares of Progressive in a research note on Wednesday, March 18th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $225.00 target price on shares of Progressive in a research note on Monday, February 23rd. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $238.39.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CAO Carl G. Joyce sold 270 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $206.50, for a total transaction of $55,755.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 558 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $115,227. This represents a 32.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CIO Jonathan S. Bauer sold 2,266 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $203.05, for a total value of $460,111.30. Following the sale, the executive directly owned 26,250 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,330,062.50. This trade represents a 7.95% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last three months, insiders sold 6,933 shares of company stock worth $1,441,564. 0.32% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Progressive Stock Up 0.4%

Shares of PGR opened at $201.51 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $117.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.24, a P/E/G ratio of 6.62 and a beta of 0.34. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $203.18 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $212.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 0.33 and a quick ratio of 0.35. The Progressive Corporation has a 1 year low of $192.02 and a 1 year high of $289.96.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 15th. The insurance provider reported $4.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.67 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $22.19 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $23.51 billion. Progressive had a return on equity of 33.47% and a net margin of 12.92%.Progressive's revenue for the quarter was up 6.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $4.37 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that The Progressive Corporation will post 16.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 2nd were paid a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 2nd. Progressive's dividend payout ratio is 2.03%.

About Progressive

Progressive Corporation is a large U.S.-based property and casualty insurer that primarily underwrites personal auto insurance along with a broad suite of related products. Its offerings include coverage for private passenger automobiles, commercial auto fleets, motorcycles, boats and recreational vehicles, as well as homeowners, renters, umbrella and other specialty P&C products. Progressive also provides claims handling, risk management and related services to individual and commercial policyholders.

The company distributes its products through a mix of direct channels—online and by phone—and an extensive independent agent network.

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