The Progressive Corporation $PGR Shares Sold by Barclays PLC

Barclays PLC cut its stake in shares of The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) by 21.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,875,677 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 504,906 shares during the quarter. Barclays PLC owned about 0.32% of Progressive worth $427,129,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Bard Associates Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Progressive during the 4th quarter worth $27,000. Dagco Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Progressive during the 4th quarter worth $28,000. IFC & Insurance Marketing Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Progressive during the 4th quarter worth $29,000. Ameriflex Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Progressive by 106.6% during the 3rd quarter. Ameriflex Group Inc. now owns 126 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares during the period. Finally, Entrust Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of Progressive during the 4th quarter worth $33,000. 85.34% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on PGR. Barclays set a $247.00 price target on shares of Progressive in a research note on Wednesday, March 18th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Progressive from $218.00 to $222.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 21st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Progressive in a research note on Friday, May 22nd. Bank of America lowered their price target on shares of Progressive from $325.00 to $320.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, May 20th. Finally, Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $259.00 price objective on shares of Progressive in a research report on Monday, March 2nd. Six research 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’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $238.11.

Progressive Price Performance

Progressive stock opened at $202.86 on Friday. The Progressive Corporation has a 52 week low of $189.20 and a 52 week high of $269.84. The company has a quick ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 0.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $199.20 and its 200 day simple moving average is $208.05. The firm has a market capitalization of $118.54 billion, a PE ratio of 10.31, a P/E/G ratio of 5.89 and a beta of 0.28.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 15th. The insurance provider reported $4.80 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.67 by $0.13. Progressive had a net margin of 12.92% and a return on equity of 33.47%. The business had revenue of $22.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $23.51 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $4.37 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that The Progressive Corporation will post 16.35 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Progressive

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

About Progressive

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.