The Progressive Corporation $PGR Shares Sold by Principal Financial Group Inc.

Key Points

• Principal Financial Group trimmed its stake in The Progressive Corporation by 1.9% in Q4, selling 16,888 shares and leaving it with 862,858 shares worth about $196.49 million (≈0.15% of the company).
• Insider selling has been active recently — Maribel Pumarejo sold 739 shares and Karen Bailo sold 3,517 shares; insiders have sold 6,933 shares worth $1.44 million in the last 90 days and now own 0.32% of the stock.
• Wall Street's consensus rating is "Hold" with an average target of $238.39; Progressive beat Q1 EPS estimates ($4.80 vs. $4.67) but missed revenue expectations, and currently trades near $197.75 with a P/E of 10.05.

Principal Financial Group Inc. decreased its stake in shares of The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR - Free Report) by 1.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 862,858 shares of the insurance provider's stock after selling 16,888 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.15% of Progressive worth $196,490,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in PGR. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund grew its stake in Progressive by 30.2% during the 3rd quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 102,778 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $25,381,000 after purchasing an additional 23,833 shares during the last quarter. Allstate Corp raised its stake in shares of Progressive by 1,614.1% in the third quarter. Allstate Corp now owns 21,598 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $5,334,000 after purchasing an additional 20,338 shares during the last quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors lifted its holdings in shares of Progressive by 471.3% during the third quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors now owns 22,496 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $5,556,000 after purchasing an additional 18,558 shares during the period. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund lifted its holdings in shares of Progressive by 32.4% during the third quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 67,056 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $16,559,000 after purchasing an additional 16,398 shares during the period. Finally, Tema Etfs LLC purchased a new stake in Progressive in the third quarter valued at approximately $2,250,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.34% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Maribel Pumarejo sold 739 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $203.25, for a total transaction of $150,201.75. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Karen Bailo sold 3,517 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $212.00, for a total value of $745,604.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 32,348 shares in the company, valued at $6,857,776. This trade represents a 9.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 6,933 shares of company stock worth $1,441,564. 0.32% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have issued reports on PGR. Evercore reissued a "negative" rating on shares of Progressive in a research report on Wednesday, March 18th. HSBC downgraded shares of Progressive from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, January 16th. Barclays set a $247.00 target price on shares of Progressive in a report on Wednesday, March 18th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their target price on shares of Progressive from $216.00 to $215.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 24th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Progressive from $215.00 to $218.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, April 16th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $238.39.

Progressive Price Performance

Shares of NYSE PGR opened at $197.75 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 0.33 and a quick ratio of 0.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $115.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.05, a PEG ratio of 6.57 and a beta of 0.31. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $203.05 and its 200-day simple moving average is $211.81. The Progressive Corporation has a 12 month low of $192.02 and a 12 month high of $289.96.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 15th. The insurance provider reported $4.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.67 by $0.13. Progressive had a net margin of 12.92% and a return on equity of 33.47%. The firm had revenue of $22.19 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $23.51 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $4.37 EPS. The business's revenue was up 6.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that The Progressive Corporation will post 16.38 EPS for the current year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 2nd were given a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 2nd. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.2%. Progressive's dividend payout ratio is 2.03%.

About Progressive

Progressive Corporation is a large U.S.-based property and casualty insurer that primarily underwrites personal auto insurance along with a broad suite of related products. Its offerings include coverage for private passenger automobiles, commercial auto fleets, motorcycles, boats and recreational vehicles, as well as homeowners, renters, umbrella and other specialty P&C products. Progressive also provides claims handling, risk management and related services to individual and commercial policyholders.

The company distributes its products through a mix of direct channels—online and by phone—and an extensive independent agent network.

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