Aviva PLC Purchases 30,546 Shares of The Progressive Corporation $PGR

Aviva PLC boosted its position in The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) by 6.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 498,850 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 30,546 shares during the period. Aviva PLC owned 0.09% of Progressive worth $113,598,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of PGR. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund grew its position in Progressive by 30.2% during the third quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 102,778 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $25,381,000 after acquiring an additional 23,833 shares during the last quarter. Allstate Corp lifted its stake in Progressive by 106.1% in the fourth quarter. Allstate Corp now owns 44,513 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $10,136,000 after acquiring an additional 22,915 shares during the period. Prospera Financial Services Inc raised its holdings in Progressive by 36.9% in the third quarter. Prospera Financial Services Inc now owns 19,240 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $4,752,000 after purchasing an additional 5,184 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Progressive during the fourth quarter valued at $1,836,094,000. Finally, Mariner LLC increased its holdings in shares of Progressive by 7.9% during the third quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 644,636 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $159,183,000 after acquiring an additional 47,248 shares in the last quarter. 85.34% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Progressive Stock Performance

NYSE PGR opened at $202.41 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $118.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.29, a P/E/G ratio of 5.92 and a beta of 0.28. 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 business’s 50 day moving average price is $199.01 and its 200-day moving average price is $208.09. The Progressive Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $189.20 and a fifty-two week high of $269.84.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 15th. The insurance provider reported $4.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.67 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $22.19 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $23.51 billion. Progressive had a return on equity of 33.47% and a net margin of 12.92%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $4.37 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that The Progressive Corporation will post 16.35 earnings per share for the current year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently commented on PGR shares. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $225.00 price objective on shares of Progressive in a research report on Monday, February 23rd. Bank of America dropped their price objective on Progressive from $325.00 to $320.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 20th. UBS Group increased their price objective on Progressive from $218.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, March 23rd. Weiss Ratings cut Progressive from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price objective on Progressive from $216.00 to $215.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 24th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $238.11.

Insider Buying and Selling at Progressive

In other Progressive news, insider Steven Broz sold 1,157 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $200.00, for a total value of $231,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 28,668 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,733,600. This represents a 3.88% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CAO Carl G. Joyce sold 270 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $206.50, for a total value of $55,755.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 558 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $115,227. This represents a 32.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 7,343 shares of company stock valued at $1,470,355 in the last quarter. 0.32% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.