Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd Sells 51,944 Shares of The Progressive Corporation $PGR

Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd decreased its stake in shares of The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) by 21.6% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 188,655 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 51,944 shares during the quarter. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd’s holdings in Progressive were worth $42,961,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Dagco Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Progressive during the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Ameriflex Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Progressive by 106.6% during the third quarter. Ameriflex Group Inc. now owns 126 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. Bangor Savings Bank increased its position in shares of Progressive by 60.4% during the fourth quarter. Bangor Savings Bank now owns 154 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Riverview Trust Co increased its position in shares of Progressive by 48.6% during the fourth quarter. Riverview Trust Co now owns 162 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $37,000 after acquiring an additional 53 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. grew its position in Progressive by 833.3% in the fourth quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. now owns 168 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 150 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on PGR shares. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Progressive from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Evercore reaffirmed a “negative” rating on shares of Progressive in a research report on Wednesday, March 18th. Roth Mkm set a $235.00 target price on shares of Progressive in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $259.00 target price on shares of Progressive in a research report on Monday, March 2nd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Progressive from $208.00 to $221.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. Six research 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $238.39.

Progressive Stock Performance

Shares of PGR opened at $193.85 on Monday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $202.73 and a 200-day moving average of $211.43. The Progressive Corporation has a one year low of $191.75 and a one year high of $289.96. The company has a market cap of $113.27 billion, a PE ratio of 9.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.61 and a beta of 0.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 0.27 and a quick ratio of 0.27.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 15th. The insurance provider reported $4.80 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.67 by $0.13. Progressive had a net margin of 12.92% and a return on equity of 33.47%. The company had revenue of $22.19 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $23.51 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $4.37 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that The Progressive Corporation will post 16.39 earnings per share for the current year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity

In related 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 completion of 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 filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Maribel Pumarejo sold 739 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $203.25, for a total transaction of $150,201.75. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 6,933 shares of company stock worth $1,441,564. Insiders own 0.32% of the company’s stock.

Progressive 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.