Hancock Whitney Corp Sells 988 Shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Hancock Whitney Corp lowered its holdings in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR - Free Report) by 5.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 15,837 shares of the insurance provider's stock after selling 988 shares during the period. Hancock Whitney Corp's holdings in Progressive were worth $3,795,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of PGR. Morse Asset Management Inc purchased a new position in Progressive in the third quarter valued at about $55,000. Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new position in Progressive in the third quarter worth approximately $2,566,000. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in Progressive by 2.2% during the third quarter. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC now owns 8,054 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $2,044,000 after acquiring an additional 171 shares in the last quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC grew its position in Progressive by 55.0% in the third quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 1,583 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $402,000 after acquiring an additional 562 shares in the last quarter. Finally, World Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Progressive by 99.0% during the 3rd quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 3,307 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $839,000 after purchasing an additional 1,645 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.34% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Progressive

In other news, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $279.94, for a total value of $2,799,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 269,566 shares of the company's stock, valued at $75,462,306.04. This represents a 3.58 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CIO Jonathan S. Bauer sold 1,696 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $282.66, for a total transaction of $479,391.36. Following the transaction, the executive now directly owns 26,697 shares in the company, valued at $7,546,174.02. The trade was a 5.97 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 43,749 shares of company stock worth $11,972,513. 0.34% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on PGR. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Progressive from $310.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on Progressive from $282.00 to $288.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Barclays increased their price target on Progressive from $285.00 to $297.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, April 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Progressive from $267.00 to $287.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Progressive from $320.00 to $324.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Progressive has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $287.41.

Progressive Price Performance

Shares of Progressive stock traded up $2.67 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $278.98. The company had a trading volume of 934,827 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,626,766. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $274.29 and a 200 day simple moving average of $258.59. The Progressive Co. has a 1-year low of $201.34 and a 1-year high of $292.99. The company has a current ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. The company has a market capitalization of $163.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.38.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR - Get Free Report) last announced 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 33.79% and a net margin of 11.25%. The firm had revenue of $22.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $21.87 billion. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that The Progressive Co. will post 14.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 3rd. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.14%. Progressive's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 2.70%.

Progressive Company 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.