M&T Bank Corp Grows Holdings in The Progressive Corporation $PGR

M&T Bank Corp boosted its position in The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) by 1,363.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 706,898 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 658,607 shares during the period. M&T Bank Corp’s holdings in Progressive were worth $160,975,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of PGR. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund increased its position in shares of Progressive by 30.2% during the 3rd quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 102,778 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $25,381,000 after purchasing an additional 23,833 shares during the last quarter. Allstate Corp increased its position in shares of Progressive by 1,614.1% during the 3rd quarter. Allstate Corp now owns 21,598 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $5,334,000 after purchasing an additional 20,338 shares during the last quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC increased its position in shares of Progressive by 91.7% during the 3rd quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC now owns 11,710 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,892,000 after purchasing an additional 5,600 shares during the last quarter. Mather Group LLC. increased its position in shares of Progressive by 40.6% during the 3rd quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 16,840 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $4,159,000 after purchasing an additional 4,865 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Arkadios Wealth Advisors increased its position in shares of Progressive by 471.3% during the 3rd quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors now owns 22,496 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $5,556,000 after purchasing an additional 18,558 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently commented on PGR. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $225.00 price objective on shares of Progressive in a research report on Monday, February 23rd. Argus upgraded Progressive to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price target on Progressive from $216.00 to $215.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 24th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on Progressive from $208.00 to $221.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. Finally, Bank of America raised their price target on Progressive from $295.00 to $298.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 14th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $238.39.

Progressive Trading Up 2.0%

NYSE PGR opened at $207.77 on Wednesday. The Progressive Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $192.02 and a fifty-two week high of $289.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 0.35 and a current ratio of 0.33. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $203.58 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $213.91. The stock has a market cap of $121.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.73 and a beta of 0.34.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 15th. The insurance provider reported $4.80 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.67 by $0.13. Progressive had a return on equity of 33.47% and a net margin of 12.92%.The business had revenue of $22.19 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $23.51 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $4.37 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 6.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that The Progressive Corporation will post 16.37 earnings per share for the current year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 2nd were issued a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 2nd. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.2%. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 2.03%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Karen Bailo sold 3,517 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $212.00, for a total value of $745,604.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 32,348 shares in the company, valued at $6,857,776. This trade represents a 9.81% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Carl G. Joyce sold 270 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $206.50, for a total value of $55,755.00. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 6,933 shares of company stock worth $1,441,564. Corporate insiders own 0.32% of the company’s stock.

About Progressive

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.