Chesley Taft & Associates LLC Has $3.74 Million Position in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Chesley Taft & Associates LLC lowered its holdings in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 2.6% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 18,080 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 475 shares during the quarter. Chesley Taft & Associates LLC’s holdings in Progressive were worth $3,739,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. TCW Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Progressive in the 4th quarter valued at $1,988,000. Brevan Howard Capital Management LP bought a new position in Progressive during the 4th quarter valued at $3,090,000. Invesco LLC lifted its stake in Progressive by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Invesco LLC now owns 3,537 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $563,000 after acquiring an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. Strs Ohio lifted its stake in Progressive by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. Strs Ohio now owns 168,187 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $26,788,000 after acquiring an additional 4,983 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank lifted its stake in Progressive by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 210,460 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $33,522,000 after acquiring an additional 4,443 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Progressive

In related news, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 12,457 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $204.43, for a total transaction of $2,546,584.51. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 312,958 shares in the company, valued at $63,978,003.94. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, insider Steven Broz sold 3,050 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $209.81, for a total value of $639,920.50. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 32,453 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,808,963.93. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 12,457 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $204.43, for a total value of $2,546,584.51. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 312,958 shares in the company, valued at $63,978,003.94. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 24,518 shares of company stock worth $5,055,674 over the last quarter. 0.34% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on Progressive from $241.00 to $245.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 15th. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on Progressive from $256.00 to $255.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, June 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Progressive from $171.00 to $202.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on Progressive from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Roth Mkm reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $235.00 price objective on shares of Progressive in a report on Wednesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $216.81.

Progressive Price Performance

NYSE:PGR traded up $3.16 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $211.35. The stock had a trading volume of 1,718,721 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,582,399. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 0.32 and a current ratio of 0.32. The Progressive Co. has a one year low of $111.41 and a one year high of $217.77. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $209.60 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $192.97. The stock has a market capitalization of $123.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.37, a P/E/G ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.35.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 12th. The insurance provider reported $3.94 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.20 by $0.74. The firm had revenue of $18.96 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.88 billion. Progressive had a return on equity of 29.43% and a net margin of 8.89%. The business’s revenue was up 17.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.65 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that The Progressive Co. will post 11.34 earnings per share for the current year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 12th. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, July 3rd. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.19%. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio is presently 4.09%.

Progressive Profile

The Progressive Corporation, an insurance holding company, provides personal and commercial auto, personal residential and commercial property, business related general liability, and other specialty property-casualty insurance products and related services in the United States. It operates in three segments: Personal Lines, Commercial Lines, and Property.