KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS Sells 22,100 Shares of The Progressive Corporation $PGR

Key Points

• KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS reduced its stake in The Progressive Corporation by 8.9%, selling 22,100 shares and retaining 227,068 shares valued at about $51.71 million.
• Company insiders have sold a total of 6,933 shares worth roughly $1.44 million in the past 90 days (including sales by Maribel Pumarejo and CAO Carl G. Joyce), while institutional investors own about 85.34% of the stock.
• Analysts carry a consensus "Hold" rating with a $238.39 price target, and Progressive reported Q1 results of $4.80 EPS (beat) but revenue of $22.19 billion (missed estimates).

KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS decreased its position in The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR - Free Report) by 8.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 227,068 shares of the insurance provider's stock after selling 22,100 shares during the quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS's holdings in Progressive were worth $51,708,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund grew its position in shares of Progressive by 30.2% in the third quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 102,778 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $25,381,000 after purchasing an additional 23,833 shares during the last quarter. Allstate Corp grew its position in shares of Progressive by 1,614.1% in the third quarter. Allstate Corp now owns 21,598 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $5,334,000 after purchasing an additional 20,338 shares during the last quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC grew its position in shares of Progressive by 91.7% in the third quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC now owns 11,710 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $2,892,000 after purchasing an additional 5,600 shares during the last quarter. Mather Group LLC. grew its position in shares of Progressive by 40.6% in the third quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 16,840 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $4,159,000 after purchasing an additional 4,865 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Arkadios Wealth Advisors grew its position in shares of Progressive by 471.3% in the third quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors now owns 22,496 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $5,556,000 after purchasing an additional 18,558 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.34% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Progressive news, insider Maribel Pumarejo sold 739 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $203.25, for a total value of $150,201.75. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Carl G. Joyce sold 270 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, March 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $206.50, for a total value of $55,755.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 558 shares in the company, valued at approximately $115,227. This represents a 32.61% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 6,933 shares of company stock worth $1,441,564. 0.32% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on PGR shares. Piper Sandler reissued an "overweight" rating and set a $259.00 price target on shares of Progressive in a research report on Monday, March 2nd. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on Progressive from $205.00 to $190.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 31st. Mizuho reduced their price target on Progressive from $235.00 to $223.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 20th. Bank of America increased their price target on Progressive from $295.00 to $298.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 14th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price target on Progressive from $227.00 to $210.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 7th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $238.39.

Progressive Trading Up 2.0%

Shares of PGR stock opened at $207.77 on Wednesday. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $203.58 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $213.91. The company has a market cap of $121.54 billion, a PE ratio of 10.56, a P/E/G ratio of 6.73 and a beta of 0.34. The Progressive Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $192.02 and a fifty-two week high of $289.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 0.35 and a current ratio of 0.33.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 15th. The insurance provider reported $4.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $4.67 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $22.19 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $23.51 billion. Progressive had a return on equity of 33.47% and a net margin of 12.92%.The company's revenue was up 6.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $4.37 EPS. Equities analysts predict that The Progressive Corporation will post 16.37 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 2nd were issued a $0.10 dividend. 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 (DPR) is currently 2.03%.

Progressive Company Profile

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.