Brown Advisory Inc. Sells 328,781 Shares of The Progressive Corporation $PGR

Brown Advisory Inc. reduced its stake in shares of The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) by 10.0% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 2,944,493 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 328,781 shares during the quarter. Progressive accounts for approximately 0.9% of Brown Advisory Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 23rd largest position. Brown Advisory Inc.’s holdings in Progressive were worth $670,526,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Dagco Inc. purchased a new position in Progressive in the 4th quarter worth $28,000. Ameriflex Group Inc. raised its position in Progressive by 106.6% in the 3rd quarter. Ameriflex Group Inc. now owns 126 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares during the period. IFC & Insurance Marketing Inc. purchased a new position in Progressive in the 4th quarter worth $29,000. Acumen Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Progressive in the 4th quarter worth $33,000. Finally, Entrust Financial LLC purchased a new position in Progressive in the 4th quarter worth $33,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Carl G. Joyce sold 270 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $206.50, for a total transaction of $55,755.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 558 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $115,227. The trade was a 32.61% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider John Jo Murphy sold 5,916 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $200.00, for a total transaction of $1,183,200.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 41,290 shares in the company, valued at $8,258,000. The trade was a 12.53% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 7,343 shares of company stock valued at $1,470,355. Corporate insiders own 0.32% of the company’s stock.

Progressive Price Performance

PGR stock opened at $202.86 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $199.20 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $208.05. The Progressive Corporation has a 12-month low of $189.20 and a 12-month high of $269.84. The stock has a market capitalization of $118.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.31, a PEG ratio of 5.89 and a beta of 0.28. The company has a current ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 0.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 15th. The insurance provider reported $4.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.67 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $22.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $23.51 billion. Progressive had a net margin of 12.92% and a return on equity of 33.47%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $4.37 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that The Progressive Corporation will post 16.35 earnings per share for the current year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 2nd will be paid a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 2nd. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.2%. Progressive’s payout ratio is presently 2.03%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Barclays set a $247.00 target price on shares of Progressive in a research report on Wednesday, March 18th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Progressive in a research report on Friday, May 22nd. Mizuho decreased their price objective on shares of Progressive from $235.00 to $223.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $225.00 price objective on shares of Progressive in a research report on Monday, February 23rd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price objective on shares of Progressive from $216.00 to $215.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 24th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Progressive presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $238.11.

Progressive Company Profile

Progressive Corporation is a large U.S.-based property and casualty insurer that primarily underwrites personal auto insurance along with a broad suite of related products. Its offerings include coverage for private passenger automobiles, commercial auto fleets, motorcycles, boats and recreational vehicles, as well as homeowners, renters, umbrella and other specialty P&C products. Progressive also provides claims handling, risk management and related services to individual and commercial policyholders.

The company distributes its products through a mix of direct channels—online and by phone—and an extensive independent agent network.