Ameritas Advisory Services LLC Has $478,000 Stock Holdings in The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR)

Ameritas Advisory Services LLC reduced its position in The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR - Free Report) by 48.7% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,727 shares of the insurance provider's stock after selling 1,638 shares during the quarter. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC's holdings in Progressive were worth $478,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Progressive by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 53,400,366 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $12,795,262,000 after acquiring an additional 583,376 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Progressive by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,615,430 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $3,498,363,000 after acquiring an additional 189,638 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in Progressive in the 4th quarter valued at $1,843,045,000. Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in shares of Progressive by 13.0% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 6,179,529 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $1,480,677,000 after buying an additional 710,684 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors raised its holdings in shares of Progressive by 34.3% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 6,058,187 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $1,451,602,000 after buying an additional 1,547,677 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.34% of the company's stock.

Progressive Stock Performance

Progressive stock traded down $8.28 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $253.38. The company's stock had a trading volume of 5,031,217 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,789,110. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $274.28 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $265.62. The Progressive Corporation has a 1-year low of $207.50 and a 1-year high of $292.99. The company has a market cap of $148.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.09, a PEG ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 0.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 0.29 and a quick ratio of 0.29.

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

Progressive Announces Dividend

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 $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 3rd. This represents a yield of 0.15%. Progressive's dividend payout ratio is currently 2.70%.

Insider Activity at Progressive

In other news, Director Dyke Kahina Van sold 2,490 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $277.67, for a total value of $691,398.30. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 12,429 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,451,160.43. This represents a 16.69% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Steven Broz sold 1,267 shares of Progressive 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 $329,901.46. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 27,621 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,191,955.98. This represents a 4.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 42,705 shares of company stock valued at $11,450,948. 0.33% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on PGR shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed a "market perform" rating and issued a $288.00 target price on shares of Progressive in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Bank of America raised 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. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on Progressive from $282.00 to $288.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Barclays cut their price target on Progressive from $297.00 to $287.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut Progressive from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $330.00 to $290.00 in a report on Monday. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Progressive has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $285.94.

Progressive 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.