John P. Sauerland Sells 10,000 Shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) Stock

The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $275.37, for a total value of $2,753,700.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 238,024 shares in the company, valued at $65,544,668.88. The trade was a 4.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink.

Progressive Price Performance

NYSE:PGR opened at $284.82 on Friday. 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 business’s 50-day simple moving average is $275.72 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $263.53. The stock has a market cap of $166.97 billion, a PE ratio of 19.78, a P/E/G ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.40. The Progressive Co. has a 52 week low of $201.34 and a 52 week high of $292.99.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 16th. The insurance provider reported $4.65 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 forecast that The Progressive Co. will post 14.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

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 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 yield of 0.14%. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio is presently 2.70%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Progressive

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Integrated Advisors Network LLC raised its holdings in Progressive by 1.0% during the first quarter. Integrated Advisors Network LLC now owns 3,808 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,078,000 after acquiring an additional 36 shares during the period. Rise Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Progressive by 7.4% in the first quarter. Rise Advisors LLC now owns 521 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $147,000 after purchasing an additional 36 shares during the last quarter. Pines Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Progressive by 3.0% in the first quarter. Pines Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,287 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $335,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares during the last quarter. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Progressive by 2.0% in the first quarter. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,940 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $549,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Beacon Financial Group increased its holdings in shares of Progressive by 1.1% in the first quarter. Beacon Financial Group now owns 3,659 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,036,000 after purchasing an additional 39 shares during the last quarter. 85.34% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PGR has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Roth Mkm increased their price target on Progressive from $290.00 to $315.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Bank of America raised Progressive from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $312.00 price target on the stock in a report on Monday, April 28th. 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. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price target on Progressive from $327.00 to $319.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 11th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut Progressive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Progressive has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $288.59.

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.