Raiffeisen Bank International AG Reduces Holdings in The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR)

Key Points

• Raiffeisen Bank International AG reduced its stake in The Progressive Corporation by 1.2% in Q1, holding 122,127 shares valued at approximately $34 million.
• Progressive reported an EPS of $4.88 for the latest quarter, exceeding analyst estimates, with revenues of $20.08 billion, indicating a year-over-year increase of 12.1%.
• The company announced a $0.10 dividend per share with a yield of 15.0%, reflecting a payout ratio of 2.25%, and the dividend was paid on July 11th.

Raiffeisen Bank International AG lessened its position in shares of The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR - Free Report) by 1.2% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 122,127 shares of the insurance provider's stock after selling 1,533 shares during the period. Raiffeisen Bank International AG's holdings in Progressive were worth $34,056,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Northern Trust Corp raised its position in Progressive by 13.0% in the 4th 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 during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors raised its position in Progressive by 34.3% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 6,058,187 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $1,451,602,000 after buying an additional 1,547,677 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its position in Progressive by 18.1% during the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 5,983,567 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $1,433,722,000 after buying an additional 915,643 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its position in Progressive by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,521,545 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $1,323,018,000 after buying an additional 153,044 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG raised its position in Progressive by 6.6% during the 4th quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 5,447,442 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $1,305,262,000 after buying an additional 337,146 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.34% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have commented on PGR shares. Bank of America cut their price objective on shares of Progressive from $337.00 to $336.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Progressive from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, July 18th. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on shares of Progressive from $288.00 to $281.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, July 18th. Barclays cut their price target on shares of Progressive from $297.00 to $287.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 7th. Finally, UBS Group cut their price target on shares of Progressive from $280.00 to $268.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 21st. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Progressive has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $286.88.

Progressive Price Performance

NYSE PGR traded up $3.17 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $244.75. The company's stock had a trading volume of 547,709 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,260,248. The stock has a market cap of $143.48 billion, a PE ratio of 13.78, a PEG ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 0.33. The Progressive Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $212.27 and a fifty-two week high of $292.99. The company's 50-day moving average is $259.50 and its two-hundred day moving average is $266.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 0.29 and a current ratio of 0.34.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 16th. The insurance provider reported $4.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.43 by $0.45. The company had revenue of $20.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $20.39 billion. Progressive had a net margin of 12.66% and a return on equity of 35.37%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.48 EPS. Analysts forecast that The Progressive Corporation will post 14.68 EPS for the current year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 11th. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 4th were given a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a yield of 15.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 3rd. Progressive's payout ratio is 2.25%.

Insider Activity

In other Progressive news, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 16,664 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.24, for a total transaction of $4,153,335.36. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 228,024 shares of the company's stock, valued at $56,832,701.76. The trade was a 6.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Patrick K. Callahan sold 6,232 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $242.16, for a total transaction of $1,509,141.12. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 27,844 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,742,703.04. This trade represents a 18.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 104,250 shares of company stock valued at $26,332,348 over the last quarter. 0.33% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.