Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. Decreases Stake in The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR)

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. cut its position in The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR - Free Report) by 0.5% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,877,488 shares of the insurance provider's stock after selling 8,862 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. owned approximately 0.32% of Progressive worth $531,348,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of PGR. Brighton Jones LLC raised its position in Progressive by 15.6% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 3,392 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $813,000 after buying an additional 457 shares during the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Progressive in the fourth quarter worth $269,000. Highview Capital Management LLC DE increased its stake in shares of Progressive by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. Highview Capital Management LLC DE now owns 11,040 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $2,645,000 after acquiring an additional 339 shares during the period. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. increased its stake in shares of Progressive by 85.7% in the fourth quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 14,953 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $3,583,000 after acquiring an additional 6,901 shares during the period. Finally, Illumine Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Progressive in the fourth quarter worth $1,785,000. 85.34% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Progressive Price Performance

NYSE PGR traded up $2.23 on Friday, hitting $263.85. The company had a trading volume of 12,464,473 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,762,402. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 0.29 and a quick ratio of 0.29. The company has a market capitalization of $154.68 billion, a PE ratio of 17.79, a PEG ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 0.40. The Progressive Corporation has a 12-month low of $207.48 and a 12-month high of $292.99. The company's fifty day moving average price is $274.46 and its 200-day moving average price is $264.76.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on PGR shares. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Progressive from $328.00 to $333.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, June 20th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of Progressive from $282.00 to $288.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Progressive from $267.00 to $287.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated a "market perform" rating and issued a $288.00 price objective on shares of Progressive in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $330.00 price objective on Progressive and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, May 19th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $288.88.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Progressive news, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $268.59, for a total transaction of $2,685,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 248,024 shares in the company, valued at approximately $66,616,766.16. The trade was a 3.88% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider John Jo Murphy sold 4,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $260.38, for a total value of $1,041,520.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 41,289 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $10,750,829.82. This trade represents a 8.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 32,705 shares of company stock worth $8,813,048. Corporate insiders own 0.34% of the company's stock.

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.