The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) Shares Bought by Ninety One UK Ltd

Ninety One UK Ltd increased its stake in shares of The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR - Free Report) by 16.8% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 203,017 shares of the insurance provider's stock after acquiring an additional 29,212 shares during the quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd's holdings in Progressive were worth $57,456,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Progressive by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 53,400,366 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $12,795,262,000 after acquiring an additional 583,376 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Progressive by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,615,430 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $3,498,363,000 after purchasing an additional 189,638 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Progressive during the fourth quarter valued at $1,843,045,000. Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in Progressive by 13.0% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 6,179,529 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $1,480,677,000 after purchasing an additional 710,684 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors raised its stake in Progressive by 34.3% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 6,058,187 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $1,451,602,000 after purchasing an additional 1,547,677 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 85.34% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently issued reports on PGR. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price target on shares of Progressive from $327.00 to $319.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Progressive from $328.00 to $333.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, June 20th. Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of Progressive from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and reduced their target price for the company from $330.00 to $290.00 in a research note on Monday. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of Progressive from $297.00 to $287.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. Finally, Bank of America raised shares of Progressive from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $312.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $285.94.

Progressive Stock Up 0.2%

Progressive stock traded up $0.52 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $252.16. 473,272 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,789,280. 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 Progressive Corporation has a 12 month low of $207.50 and a 12 month high of $292.99. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $273.46 and a two-hundred day moving average of $265.61. The company has a market cap of $147.82 billion, a PE ratio of 17.01, a P/E/G ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.37.

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

Progressive Announces Dividend

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Stuart B. Burgdoerfer sold 3,681 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 20th. The shares were 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 trade represents a 23.15% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $263.79, for a total transaction of $2,637,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 228,024 shares in the company, valued at $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 ninety days, insiders sold 42,705 shares of company stock worth $11,450,948. Insiders own 0.34% of the company's stock.

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.