The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) Position Trimmed by Brown Advisory Inc.

Brown Advisory Inc. lessened its stake in shares of The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR - Free Report) by 10.7% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,888,372 shares of the insurance provider's stock after selling 584,557 shares during the period. Progressive makes up about 2.0% of Brown Advisory Inc.'s portfolio, making the stock its 8th biggest position. Brown Advisory Inc. owned approximately 0.83% of Progressive worth $1,383,458,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. State of Alaska Department of Revenue grew its position in Progressive by 2.7% during the 1st quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 68,644 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $19,426,000 after purchasing an additional 1,800 shares during the last quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. grew its position in Progressive by 36.4% during the 1st quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 126,826 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $35,893,000 after purchasing an additional 33,864 shares during the last quarter. MEAG MUNICH ERGO Kapitalanlagegesellschaft mbH grew its position in Progressive by 498.5% during the 1st quarter. MEAG MUNICH ERGO Kapitalanlagegesellschaft mbH now owns 5,057 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $1,431,000 after purchasing an additional 4,212 shares during the last quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Progressive in the 1st quarter valued at $3,141,000. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Progressive by 16.5% in the 1st quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 93,463 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $26,451,000 after acquiring an additional 13,231 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.34% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Progressive

In other news, Director Stuart B. Burgdoerfer sold 3,681 shares of the company's stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the director owned 12,217 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,181,673.31. This represents a 23.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction 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 of the company's stock, valued at $60,150,450.96. The trade was a 4.20% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 42,705 shares of company stock valued at $11,450,948. 0.33% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently commented on PGR shares. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on shares of Progressive from $327.00 to $319.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 11th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of Progressive from $282.00 to $288.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of Progressive from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $330.00 to $290.00 in a report on Monday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed a "market perform" rating and issued a $288.00 price objective on shares of Progressive in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, Bank of America raised shares of Progressive from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $312.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Monday, April 28th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $285.94.

Progressive Stock Performance

NYSE:PGR opened at $253.38 on Tuesday. 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 company has a fifty day moving average of $273.96 and a two-hundred day moving average of $265.71. The stock has a market capitalization of $148.54 billion, a PE ratio of 17.09, a P/E/G ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 0.37. The Progressive Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $207.50 and a fifty-two week high of $292.99.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 16th. The insurance provider reported $4.65 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $4.28 by $0.37. The company 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, research analysts forecast that The Progressive Corporation will post 14.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

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

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.