Forsta AP Fonden Has $47.82 Million Stock Position in The Progressive Corporation $PGR

Forsta AP Fonden lifted its stake in The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) by 1.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 210,000 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,000 shares during the quarter. Forsta AP Fonden’s holdings in Progressive were worth $47,821,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of PGR. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Progressive in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,836,094,000. Capital International Investors increased its position in shares of Progressive by 78.9% in the third quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 13,704,197 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $3,384,082,000 after acquiring an additional 6,045,732 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors increased its position in shares of Progressive by 26.1% in the third quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 11,167,940 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,757,905,000 after acquiring an additional 2,314,864 shares during the last quarter. Life Cycle Investment Partners Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Progressive in the fourth quarter valued at about $353,906,000. Finally, Eurizon Capital SGR S.p.A. acquired a new stake in shares of Progressive in the fourth quarter valued at about $185,761,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CAO Carl G. Joyce sold 270 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 20th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at $115,227. The trade was a 32.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Karen Bailo sold 3,517 shares of the business’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 sale, the insider owned 32,348 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,857,776. This represents a 9.81% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 3,928 shares of company stock valued at $831,251. Corporate insiders own 0.32% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently issued reports on PGR. Bank of America lowered their target price on Progressive from $325.00 to $320.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 20th. Citigroup lowered their target price on Progressive from $300.60 to $261.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price target on Progressive from $216.00 to $215.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 24th. Weiss Ratings cut Progressive from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Progressive from $218.00 to $222.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 21st. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Progressive has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $238.11.

Progressive Trading Down 2.2%

Progressive stock opened at $190.27 on Friday. The Progressive Corporation has a 52 week low of $189.20 and a 52 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. The stock has a market capitalization of $111.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.67, a PEG ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 0.31. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $199.66 and a 200 day simple moving average of $209.74.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 15th. The insurance provider reported $4.80 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 company posted $4.37 earnings per share. Progressive’s quarterly revenue was up 6.5% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that The Progressive Corporation will post 16.36 earnings per share for the current year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

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