Lazard Asset Management LLC Reduces Stock Holdings in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Lazard Asset Management LLC lessened its stake in shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR - Free Report) by 11.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 33,192 shares of the insurance provider's stock after selling 4,281 shares during the quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC's holdings in Progressive were worth $7,952,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in PGR. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. boosted its position in Progressive by 13.5% in the fourth quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 520,348 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $124,681,000 after purchasing an additional 61,956 shares during the last quarter. Hudson Way Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Progressive by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. Hudson Way Capital Management LLC now owns 164,177 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $39,338,000 after purchasing an additional 3,838 shares during the period. Guardian Wealth Advisors LLC NC boosted its holdings in shares of Progressive by 12.7% in the fourth quarter. Guardian Wealth Advisors LLC NC now owns 12,130 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $2,907,000 after buying an additional 1,369 shares during the last quarter. Gotham Asset Management LLC grew its position in Progressive by 124.4% during the fourth quarter. Gotham Asset Management LLC now owns 46,759 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $11,204,000 after buying an additional 25,919 shares during the period. Finally, Focus Partners Wealth grew its position in Progressive by 7.1% during the fourth quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 112,592 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $26,988,000 after buying an additional 7,496 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.34% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on PGR shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Progressive from $267.00 to $287.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. UBS Group lifted their target price on Progressive from $275.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued a "market perform" rating and set a $288.00 price target on shares of Progressive in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Barclays upped their price target on Progressive from $285.00 to $297.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Progressive from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 13th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $288.24.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Progressive news, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $279.94, for a total transaction of $2,799,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 269,566 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $75,462,306.04. The trade was a 3.58% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Carl G. Joyce sold 360 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $276.17, for a total value of $99,421.20. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 655 shares in the company, valued at approximately $180,891.35. The trade was a 35.47% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 39,894 shares of company stock valued at $11,020,097. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Progressive Stock Down 0.5%

Shares of Progressive stock traded down $1.49 on Tuesday, reaching $286.76. The stock had a trading volume of 269,034 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,631,520. The company has a quick ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 0.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. The stock has a market capitalization of $168.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.91, a P/E/G ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.40. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $275.57 and a 200 day moving average price of $262.13. The Progressive Co. has a 1 year low of $201.34 and a 1 year high of $292.99.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 16th. The insurance provider reported $4.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.28 by $0.37. The business had revenue of $22.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $21.87 billion. Progressive had a net margin of 11.25% and a return on equity of 33.79%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that The Progressive Co. will post 14.68 EPS for the current year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd were issued a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.14%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 3rd. Progressive's dividend payout ratio 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.