Legal & General Group Plc Trims Stake in The Progressive Corporation $PGR

Key Points

• Legal & General Group Plc trimmed its stake in Progressive by 0.6% in the fourth quarter, though it still held 4.17 million shares valued at about $949.9 million.
• Progressive reported better-than-expected quarterly earnings of $4.80 per share versus the $4.67 consensus, with revenue up 6.5% year over year.
• Despite solid results, analysts remain cautious: Progressive’s consensus rating is “Hold”, and the average price target is $238.11, above its recent share price of $199.28.

Legal & General Group Plc reduced its position in The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR - Free Report) by 0.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 4,171,430 shares of the insurance provider's stock after selling 24,681 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc owned 0.71% of Progressive worth $949,918,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund raised its stake in Progressive by 30.2% during the 3rd quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 102,778 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $25,381,000 after acquiring an additional 23,833 shares during the last quarter. Prospera Financial Services Inc raised its stake in Progressive by 36.9% during the 3rd quarter. Prospera Financial Services Inc now owns 19,240 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $4,752,000 after acquiring an additional 5,184 shares during the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. raised its stake in Progressive by 19.9% during the 3rd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 629,095 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $155,355,000 after acquiring an additional 104,563 shares during the last quarter. Mariner LLC raised its stake in Progressive by 7.9% during the 3rd quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 644,636 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $159,183,000 after acquiring an additional 47,248 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. raised its stake in Progressive by 5.7% during the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 1,807,068 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $411,506,000 after acquiring an additional 97,275 shares during the last quarter. 85.34% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have commented on PGR. Evercore reaffirmed a "negative" rating on shares of Progressive in a research note on Wednesday, March 18th. Argus raised Progressive to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 5th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on Progressive from $216.00 to $215.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 24th. Barclays set a $247.00 price objective on Progressive in a research note on Wednesday, March 18th. Finally, Bank of America cut their target price on Progressive from $325.00 to $320.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Progressive has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $238.11.

Progressive Stock Performance

Shares of PGR stock opened at $199.28 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $116.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 7.30 and a beta of 0.31. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $200.46 and a 200-day simple moving average of $210.26. The Progressive Corporation has a 12-month low of $191.75 and a 12-month high of $289.96. The company has a current ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 0.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26.

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 analysts' consensus estimates of $4.67 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $22.19 billion during 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 for the quarter was up 6.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $4.37 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that The Progressive Corporation will post 16.36 EPS for the current year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 2nd will be issued a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 2nd. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.2%. Progressive's dividend payout ratio is currently 2.03%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Maribel Pumarejo sold 739 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $203.25, for a total value of $150,201.75. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Karen Bailo sold 3,517 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $212.00, for a total value of $745,604.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 32,348 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,857,776. This represents a 9.81% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 4,667 shares of company stock worth $981,453 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.32% of the company's stock.

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.

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