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

Hancock Whitney Corp reduced its position in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 5.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 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 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Webster Bank N. A. bought a new stake in Progressive during the fourth quarter worth $26,000. Hager Investment Management Services LLC bought a new stake in shares of Progressive in the 4th quarter worth $28,000. Atlantic Edge Private Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Progressive by 54.7% during the fourth quarter. Atlantic Edge Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 116 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. boosted its holdings in Progressive by 3,000.0% during the fourth quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 124 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 120 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Atala Financial Inc bought a new stake in Progressive in the 4th quarter worth about $32,000. Institutional investors own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $275.94, for a total value of $2,759,400.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 258,024 shares in the company, valued at approximately $71,199,142.56. This trade represents a 3.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Lori A. Niederst sold 3,855 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $247.06, for a total value of $952,416.30. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 39,040 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,645,222.40. The trade was a 8.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 43,749 shares of company stock worth $11,786,613 in the last three months. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Progressive from $285.00 to $297.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Raymond James upgraded Progressive from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $305.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 26th. Bank of America lifted their target price on Progressive from $289.00 to $297.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Progressive from $275.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and issued a $288.00 price objective on shares of Progressive in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $285.76.

Progressive Trading Up 0.1 %

NYSE:PGR opened at $265.19 on Friday. The Progressive Co. has a 1 year low of $201.34 and a 1 year high of $292.99. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $274.09 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $258.15. 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 company has a market cap of $155.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.42, a P/E/G ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.38.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 16th. The insurance provider reported $4.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.28 by $0.37. The business had revenue of $22.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $21.87 billion. Progressive had a return on equity of 33.79% and a net margin of 11.25%. As a group, analysts expect that The Progressive Co. will post 14.68 EPS for the current year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.15%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 3rd. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 2.70%.

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.