Villere ST Denis J & Co. LLC Decreases Stake in The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR)

Villere ST Denis J & Co. LLC decreased its holdings in The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR - Free Report) by 1.7% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 87,720 shares of the insurance provider's stock after selling 1,538 shares during the quarter. Progressive accounts for about 2.4% of Villere ST Denis J & Co. LLC's holdings, making the stock its 21st biggest holding. Villere ST Denis J & Co. LLC's holdings in Progressive were worth $24,826,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Highline Wealth Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Progressive by 114.0% in the first quarter. Highline Wealth Partners LLC now owns 92 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 49 shares during the period. HWG Holdings LP purchased a new position in Progressive in the first quarter worth approximately $28,000. Minot DeBlois Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Progressive in the fourth quarter worth approximately $28,000. Garde Capital Inc. purchased a new position in Progressive in the first quarter worth approximately $33,000. Finally, Atala Financial Inc purchased a new position in Progressive in the fourth quarter worth approximately $32,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.34% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PGR has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Progressive from $285.00 to $291.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 28th. Bank of America upgraded shares of Progressive from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $312.00 price target for the company in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target 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. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Progressive from $285.00 to $297.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price target on shares of Progressive from $327.00 to $319.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve 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 $288.88.

Insider Buying and Selling at Progressive

In other Progressive news, Director Dyke Kahina Van sold 2,490 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $277.67, for a total value of $691,398.30. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 12,429 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,451,160.43. The trade was a 16.69% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, April 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $268.59, for a total transaction of $2,685,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 248,024 shares in the company, valued at $66,616,766.16. This represents a 3.88% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 32,705 shares of company stock valued at $8,813,048. 0.34% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Progressive Stock Performance

Shares of Progressive stock traded up $2.23 during trading on Friday, reaching $263.85. The company's stock had a trading volume of 12,464,473 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,762,402. The company has a current ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. The firm has a market cap of $154.68 billion, a PE ratio of 17.79, a P/E/G ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 0.40. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $274.46 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $264.76. The Progressive Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $207.48 and a fifty-two week high of $292.99.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 16th. The insurance provider reported $4.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.28 by $0.37. The company had revenue of $22.21 billion for 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%. On average, analysts forecast that The Progressive Corporation will post 14.68 EPS for the current year.

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.