Intrust Bank NA Raises Holdings in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Intrust Bank NA boosted its stake in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 3.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 4,489 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 156 shares during the quarter. Intrust Bank NA’s holdings in Progressive were worth $1,076,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of PGR. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its position in shares of Progressive by 98.2% in the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 789 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $189,000 after buying an additional 391 shares during the last quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC grew its stake in Progressive by 90.9% in the 3rd quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 7,813 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,983,000 after acquiring an additional 3,720 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in Progressive by 2,262.4% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 433,999 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $103,990,000 after acquiring an additional 415,628 shares during the last quarter. Signal Advisors Wealth LLC lifted its stake in shares of Progressive by 42.3% during the 4th quarter. Signal Advisors Wealth LLC now owns 11,889 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,849,000 after purchasing an additional 3,534 shares during the period. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB grew its position in shares of Progressive by 30.5% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,069,697 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $255,882,000 after purchasing an additional 249,958 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PGR has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Roth Mkm raised their price target on Progressive from $290.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Progressive from $300.00 to $307.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Hsbc Global Res lowered shares of Progressive from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Progressive from $264.00 to $285.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 13th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price objective on Progressive from $275.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, March 14th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $281.06.

Progressive Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:PGR opened at $279.13 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $163.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.38, a PEG ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.35. The Progressive Co. has a one year low of $201.34 and a one year high of $292.99. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $265.32 and its 200 day simple moving average is $255.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a current ratio of 0.31.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The insurance provider reported $4.08 earnings per share 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, sell-side analysts forecast that The Progressive Co. will post 14.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 3rd. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.14%. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio is presently 2.78%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $238.66, for a total value of $2,386,600.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 282,958 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $67,530,756.28. This represents a 3.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Devin C. Johnson sold 400 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $275.04, for a total transaction of $110,016.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 8,370 shares in the company, valued at $2,302,084.80. This trade represents a 4.56 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 66,255 shares of company stock worth $16,877,471. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by corporate 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.