The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) CFO Sells $2,685,900.00 in Stock

The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR - Get Free Report) CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of Progressive 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. The trade was a 3.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link.

Progressive Stock Up 1.1 %

Progressive stock traded up $3.16 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $280.82. 277,898 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,622,731. The Progressive Co. has a 1 year low of $201.34 and a 1 year high of $292.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 0.31 and a quick ratio of 0.30. The firm has a market cap of $164.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.51, a P/E/G ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $274.70 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $258.93.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 16th. The insurance provider reported $4.65 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.28 by $0.37. Progressive had a return on equity of 33.79% and a net margin of 11.25%. The company had revenue of $22.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $21.87 billion. On average, sell-side analysts predict that The Progressive Co. will post 14.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

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

Institutional Trading of Progressive

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of PGR. Leo Wealth LLC grew its position in shares of Progressive by 24.2% in the 1st quarter. Leo Wealth LLC now owns 3,528 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $998,000 after acquiring an additional 688 shares in the last quarter. Dakota Wealth Management boosted its holdings in Progressive by 1.1% in the first quarter. Dakota Wealth Management now owns 127,658 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $36,128,000 after purchasing an additional 1,388 shares during the period. Asahi Life Asset Management CO. LTD. increased its stake in Progressive by 95.9% during the first quarter. Asahi Life Asset Management CO. LTD. now owns 2,155 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $610,000 after purchasing an additional 1,055 shares during the last quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Progressive by 1.8% during the first quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC now owns 14,508 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $4,106,000 after purchasing an additional 256 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Catalyst Financial Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Progressive by 1.1% in the 1st quarter. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC now owns 4,727 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $1,338,000 after buying an additional 52 shares during the last quarter. 85.34% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have weighed in on the company. 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. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Progressive from $320.00 to $324.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Roth Mkm raised their target price on shares of Progressive from $290.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated a "market perform" rating and set a $288.00 price target on shares of Progressive in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Progressive from $275.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, March 14th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $287.41.

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.