Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. Has $451.99 Million Holdings in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. reduced its position in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 1.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,886,350 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 31,118 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc.’s holdings in Progressive were worth $451,988,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of PGR. Telligent Fund LP acquired a new position in shares of Progressive during the fourth quarter valued at about $1,438,000. Leo Wealth LLC raised its stake in shares of Progressive by 165.2% in the fourth quarter. Leo Wealth LLC now owns 2,840 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $681,000 after purchasing an additional 1,769 shares during the last quarter. Oakworth Capital Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Progressive by 58.0% in the fourth quarter. Oakworth Capital Inc. now owns 831 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $199,000 after purchasing an additional 305 shares in the last quarter. McHugh Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Progressive during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,725,000. Finally, Elm3 Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Progressive during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,293,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Bank of America raised their price objective on Progressive from $331.00 to $335.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Hsbc Global Res cut shares of Progressive from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on Progressive from $273.00 to $267.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, December 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their target price on Progressive from $295.00 to $294.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their price objective on Progressive from $277.00 to $285.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $275.71.

Progressive Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of PGR opened at $251.33 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $245.92 and its 200-day moving average price is $245.32. The company has a quick ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 0.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. The Progressive Co. has a twelve month low of $180.68 and a twelve month high of $270.62. The stock has a market cap of $147.23 billion, a PE ratio of 17.45, a P/E/G ratio of 0.63 and a beta of 0.42.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The insurance provider reported $4.08 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.44 by $0.64. Progressive had a net margin of 11.25% and a return on equity of 33.79%. On average, equities analysts forecast that The Progressive Co. will post 14.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 16th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 9th were issued a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.16%. Progressive’s payout ratio is currently 2.78%.

Insider Activity

In other Progressive news, insider Andrew J. Quigg sold 681 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $242.10, for a total transaction of $164,870.10. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 33,612 shares in the company, valued at $8,137,465.20. The trade was a 1.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Susan Patricia Griffith sold 9,066 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $242.10, for a total transaction of $2,194,878.60. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 473,736 shares in the company, valued at approximately $114,691,485.60. This trade represents a 1.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 56,361 shares of company stock worth $13,983,575. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

About Progressive

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.