Swedbank AB Has $240.52 Million Stock Holdings in The Progressive Corporation $PGR

Key Points

• Swedbank AB has reduced its stake in The Progressive Corporation by 5.6%, holding 849,855 shares valued at approximately $240.52 million.
• Various institutional investors, including Vanguard Group Inc. and GQG Partners LLC, have increased their investments in Progressive, showing strong institutional support.
• Progressive reported an EPS of $4.88 for the last quarter, exceeding estimates, and announced a quarterly dividend of $0.10 to be paid on October 10th.

Swedbank AB cut its stake in shares of The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR - Free Report) by 5.6% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 849,855 shares of the insurance provider's stock after selling 50,631 shares during the period. Swedbank AB owned 0.14% of Progressive worth $240,517,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Progressive by 1.2% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 54,022,956 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $15,289,037,000 after purchasing an additional 622,590 shares during the last quarter. GQG Partners LLC boosted its position in Progressive by 61.4% during the first quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 8,346,133 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $2,362,039,000 after purchasing an additional 3,174,632 shares during the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. boosted its position in Progressive by 15.2% during the first quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 8,263,157 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $2,338,556,000 after purchasing an additional 1,091,828 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC boosted its position in Progressive by 6.6% during the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 6,380,134 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $1,805,642,000 after purchasing an additional 396,567 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its position in shares of Progressive by 18.1% in the fourth 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 valued at $1,433,722,000 after buying an additional 915,643 shares during the last quarter. 85.34% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Barclays cut their price objective on Progressive from $287.00 to $281.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, August 19th. Wall Street Zen cut Progressive from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, July 18th. Citigroup reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Progressive in a research report on Friday, August 29th. Cantor Fitzgerald raised Progressive to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 13th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on Progressive from $281.00 to $279.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 21st. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $284.82.

Progressive Stock Performance

PGR opened at $248.69 on Friday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $246.68 and a 200 day simple moving average of $264.95. The company has a market capitalization of $145.78 billion, a PE ratio of 14.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 0.32. The Progressive Corporation has a 1 year low of $228.54 and a 1 year high of $292.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 0.31 and a quick ratio of 0.31.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $4.43 by $0.45. The business had revenue of $20.08 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $20.39 billion. Progressive had a return on equity of 35.37% and a net margin of 12.66%.The firm's quarterly revenue was up 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.48 EPS. Research analysts expect that The Progressive Corporation will post 14.68 EPS for the current year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 2nd will be issued a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 2nd. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.2%. Progressive's payout ratio is currently 2.25%.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Lori A. Niederst sold 8,063 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.18, for a total transaction of $2,017,201.34. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 39,040 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,767,027.20. This represents a 17.12% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Steven Broz sold 1,345 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, August 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.78, for a total value of $337,299.10. Following the sale, the insider owned 31,733 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $7,958,001.74. The trade was a 4.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 139,010 shares of company stock worth $34,547,699. 0.34% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.

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