Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. Sells 377,735 Shares of The Progressive Corporation $PGR

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. reduced its stake in The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) by 20.9% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 1,429,333 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 377,735 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc.’s holdings in Progressive were worth $283,351,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PGR. Brighton Jones LLC raised its position in Progressive by 15.6% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 3,392 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $813,000 after purchasing an additional 457 shares during the period. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Progressive during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $269,000. Bison Wealth LLC grew its holdings in shares of Progressive by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. Bison Wealth LLC now owns 2,568 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $615,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares during the last quarter. HUB Investment Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Progressive by 7.8% in the second quarter. HUB Investment Partners LLC now owns 2,282 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $609,000 after purchasing an additional 166 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Diversify Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Progressive by 12.0% in the second quarter. Diversify Wealth Management LLC now owns 15,146 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $3,681,000 after buying an additional 1,622 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on PGR shares. Mizuho lowered their price target on shares of Progressive from $235.00 to $223.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 20th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price target on shares of Progressive from $216.00 to $215.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 24th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of Progressive from $205.00 to $190.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 31st. HSBC upped their price objective on shares of Progressive from $214.00 to $221.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, Bank of America cut their target price on Progressive from $331.00 to $313.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, June 18th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have given a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $236.47.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Steven Broz sold 1,157 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $204.76, for a total transaction of $236,907.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 27,511 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,633,152.36. This trade represents a 4.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Jeffrey D. Kelly sold 7,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $216.33, for a total value of $1,514,310.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 22,546 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,877,376.18. This represents a 23.69% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 15,230 shares of company stock valued at $3,165,817 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.32% of the company’s stock.

Progressive Price Performance

PGR opened at $232.62 on Thursday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $205.78 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $206.70. The company has a current ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 0.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The company has a market cap of $135.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.44 and a beta of 0.26. The Progressive Corporation has a 12-month low of $189.20 and a 12-month high of $254.93.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 15th. The insurance provider reported $4.80 EPS 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 analysts’ expectations of $23.51 billion. Progressive had a net margin of 12.92% and a return on equity of 33.47%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $4.37 EPS. Research analysts predict that The Progressive Corporation will post 17.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

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

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.