Securian Asset Management Inc. Trims Stock Holdings in The Progressive Corporation $PGR

Securian Asset Management Inc. decreased its position in The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) by 43.7% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 15,945 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 12,365 shares during the period. Securian Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Progressive were worth $3,631,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Pure Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Progressive in the 4th quarter worth $425,000. Osprey Private Wealth LLC raised its stake in Progressive by 32.4% in the 4th quarter. Osprey Private Wealth LLC now owns 32,516 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $7,405,000 after acquiring an additional 7,961 shares during the last quarter. Income Insurance Ltd purchased a new position in Progressive in the 4th quarter worth $399,000. Plato Investment Management Ltd raised its stake in Progressive by 16.8% in the 4th quarter. Plato Investment Management Ltd now owns 24,663 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $5,644,000 after acquiring an additional 3,542 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bensler LLC raised its stake in Progressive by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Bensler LLC now owns 72,138 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $16,427,000 after acquiring an additional 1,633 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Carl G. Joyce sold 270 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $206.50, for a total transaction of $55,755.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 558 shares in the company, valued at $115,227. This trade represents a 32.61% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Karen Bailo sold 3,517 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $212.00, for a total value of $745,604.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 32,348 shares in the company, valued at $6,857,776. This trade represents a 9.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 6,933 shares of company stock valued at $1,441,564 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.32% of the company’s stock.

Progressive Stock Performance

NYSE PGR opened at $193.85 on Monday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $202.73 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $211.43. The firm has a market capitalization of $113.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.86, a PEG ratio of 5.61 and a beta of 0.31. The Progressive Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $191.75 and a fifty-two week high of $289.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 0.27 and a current ratio of 0.27.

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, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.67 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $22.19 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $23.51 billion. Progressive had a return on equity of 33.47% and a net margin of 12.92%.The company’s revenue was up 6.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $4.37 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that The Progressive Corporation will post 16.39 earnings per share for the current year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Evercore restated a “negative” rating on shares of Progressive in a research note on Wednesday, March 18th. Weiss Ratings lowered Progressive from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Wednesday. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $225.00 price objective on shares of Progressive in a research note on Monday, February 23rd. Citigroup reduced their price objective on Progressive from $300.60 to $261.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 3rd. Finally, Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $259.00 price objective on shares of Progressive in a research note on Monday, March 2nd. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Progressive presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $238.39.

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.