Mcdonald Capital Investors Inc. CA Decreases Stock Position in The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR)

Mcdonald Capital Investors Inc. CA trimmed its position in shares of The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR - Free Report) by 7.9% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 952,035 shares of the insurance provider's stock after selling 82,147 shares during the period. Progressive comprises approximately 17.0% of Mcdonald Capital Investors Inc. CA's portfolio, making the stock its biggest holding. Mcdonald Capital Investors Inc. CA owned about 0.16% of Progressive worth $269,435,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. State of Alaska Department of Revenue lifted its position in shares of Progressive by 2.7% in the first quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 68,644 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $19,426,000 after buying an additional 1,800 shares during the last quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Progressive by 36.4% in the first quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 126,826 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $35,893,000 after buying an additional 33,864 shares during the last quarter. MEAG MUNICH ERGO Kapitalanlagegesellschaft mbH lifted its position in shares of Progressive by 498.5% in the first quarter. MEAG MUNICH ERGO Kapitalanlagegesellschaft mbH now owns 5,057 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $1,431,000 after buying an additional 4,212 shares during the last quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Progressive in the first quarter worth about $3,141,000. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott LLC lifted its position in shares of Progressive by 16.5% during the 1st quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 93,463 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $26,451,000 after purchasing an additional 13,231 shares during the last quarter. 85.34% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PGR has been the subject of several research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Progressive from $267.00 to $287.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on Progressive from $282.00 to $288.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price objective on Progressive from $327.00 to $319.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Morgan Stanley cut Progressive from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $330.00 to $290.00 in a research report on Monday, July 7th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Progressive from $328.00 to $333.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, June 20th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $285.41.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Stuart B. Burgdoerfer sold 3,681 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly owned 12,217 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,181,673.31. This represents a 23.15% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $263.79, for a total value of $2,637,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 228,024 shares in the company, valued at approximately $60,150,450.96. This represents a 4.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 42,705 shares of company stock worth $11,450,948. Insiders own 0.33% of the company's stock.

Progressive Stock Performance

PGR traded down $4.61 on Friday, hitting $244.77. 3,182,460 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,812,519. The Progressive Corporation has a 52 week low of $208.13 and a 52 week high of $292.99. The firm has a market capitalization of $143.49 billion, a PE ratio of 16.51, a P/E/G ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 0.37. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $271.50 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $265.89. The company has a current ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24.

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

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 11th. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 4th were paid a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 3rd. This represents a dividend yield of 0.15%. Progressive's dividend payout ratio is currently 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.