Korea Investment CORP Decreases Holdings in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Korea Investment CORP reduced its stake in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 5.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 461,896 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 24,202 shares during the quarter. Korea Investment CORP’s holdings in Progressive were worth $110,675,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. United Super Pty Ltd in its capacity as Trustee for the Construction & Building Unions Superannuation Fund bought a new stake in Progressive in the fourth quarter worth about $1,126,000. Banco BTG Pactual S.A. purchased a new stake in shares of Progressive during the 4th quarter worth approximately $489,000. Ausdal Financial Partners Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Progressive in the 4th quarter worth approximately $250,000. Financial Counselors Inc. lifted its stake in Progressive by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Financial Counselors Inc. now owns 44,467 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $10,655,000 after purchasing an additional 429 shares during the last quarter. Finally, TIAA Trust National Association grew its holdings in Progressive by 8.8% during the fourth quarter. TIAA Trust National Association now owns 7,733 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,853,000 after purchasing an additional 627 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $238.66, for a total value of $2,386,600.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 282,958 shares in the company, valued at approximately $67,530,756.28. The trade was a 3.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CIO Jonathan S. Bauer sold 1,696 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $282.66, for a total value of $479,391.36. Following the sale, the executive now owns 26,697 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,546,174.02. This represents a 5.97 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 66,255 shares of company stock worth $16,877,471 in the last 90 days. 0.34% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Progressive Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of PGR opened at $272.49 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 0.31 and a quick ratio of 0.30. The Progressive Co. has a 1-year low of $201.34 and a 1-year high of $292.99. The company has a market capitalization of $159.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.92, a P/E/G ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.35. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $264.03 and its 200 day simple moving average is $255.49.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The insurance provider reported $4.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.44 by $0.64. Progressive had a return on equity of 33.79% and a net margin of 11.25%. Sell-side analysts forecast that The Progressive Co. will post 14.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.15%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 3rd. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio is currently 2.78%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently commented on PGR shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on Progressive from $294.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on Progressive from $273.00 to $267.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, December 16th. HSBC lowered shares of Progressive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $267.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. StockNews.com raised shares of Progressive from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, March 22nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Progressive from $313.00 to $317.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Progressive currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $281.06.

Progressive Company 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.