The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) Shares Acquired by Principal Securities Inc.

Principal Securities Inc. lifted its position in The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR - Free Report) by 6.8% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 18,357 shares of the insurance provider's stock after acquiring an additional 1,171 shares during the quarter. Principal Securities Inc.'s holdings in Progressive were worth $5,195,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in PGR. Integrated Advisors Network LLC lifted its holdings in Progressive by 1.0% during the 1st quarter. Integrated Advisors Network LLC now owns 3,808 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $1,078,000 after buying an additional 36 shares in the last quarter. Pines Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Progressive by 3.0% during the 1st quarter. Pines Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,287 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $335,000 after buying an additional 37 shares in the last quarter. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Progressive by 2.0% during the 1st quarter. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,940 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $549,000 after buying an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Beacon Financial Group lifted its holdings in Progressive by 1.1% during the 1st quarter. Beacon Financial Group now owns 3,659 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $1,036,000 after buying an additional 39 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kesler Norman & Wride LLC lifted its holdings in Progressive by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Kesler Norman & Wride LLC now owns 3,695 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $885,000 after buying an additional 40 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 85.34% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on PGR shares. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price objective on shares of Progressive from $327.00 to $319.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 11th. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Progressive from $297.00 to $287.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Monday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on shares of Progressive from $288.00 to $290.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Wednesday. UBS Group cut their target price on shares of Progressive from $291.00 to $280.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of Progressive from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and cut their target price for the company from $330.00 to $290.00 in a research report on Monday. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $285.41.

Insider Activity at Progressive

In other Progressive news, Director Stuart B. Burgdoerfer sold 3,681 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $260.43, for a total transaction of $958,642.83. Following the sale, the director owned 12,217 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,181,673.31. The trade was a 23.15% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $263.79, for a total transaction of $2,637,900.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 228,024 shares in the company, valued at approximately $60,150,450.96. This represents a 4.20% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 42,705 shares of company stock worth $11,450,948 in the last 90 days. 0.34% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Progressive Stock Down 0.5%

Shares of Progressive stock traded down $1.29 on Thursday, reaching $249.13. The stock had a trading volume of 4,289,710 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,807,988. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $272.26 and a 200 day moving average price of $265.57. The company has a quick ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 0.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. The Progressive Corporation has a 1 year low of $207.50 and a 1 year high of $292.99. The stock has a market capitalization of $146.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.80, a P/E/G ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 0.37.

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

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 11th. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 4th will be given a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a yield of 0.15%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 3rd. Progressive's dividend payout ratio is presently 2.70%.

About Progressive

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.