Desjardins Global Asset Management Inc. Sells 6,847 Shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Desjardins Global Asset Management Inc. decreased its stake in shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 26.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 18,623 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 6,847 shares during the period. Desjardins Global Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Progressive were worth $2,966,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Markel Corp boosted its holdings in Progressive by 4.1% during the first quarter. Markel Corp now owns 750,750 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $85,578,000 after purchasing an additional 29,750 shares during the last quarter. Roundview Capital LLC boosted its holdings in Progressive by 0.8% during the first quarter. Roundview Capital LLC now owns 49,086 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $5,595,000 after purchasing an additional 381 shares during the last quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. boosted its holdings in Progressive by 3.9% during the first quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. now owns 6,693 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $763,000 after purchasing an additional 254 shares during the last quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. boosted its holdings in Progressive by 8.0% during the first quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 3,081 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $351,000 after purchasing an additional 228 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Progressive by 103.5% during the first quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 7,022 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $800,000 after purchasing an additional 3,571 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have commented on the stock. Bank of America cut their price target on shares of Progressive from $265.00 to $264.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Progressive from $232.00 to $238.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of Progressive from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on shares of Progressive from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on shares of Progressive from $241.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $208.31.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Karen Bailo sold 8,464 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $189.49, for a total transaction of $1,603,843.36. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 32,342 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,128,485.58. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, insider Karen Bailo sold 8,464 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $189.49, for a total transaction of $1,603,843.36. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 32,342 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,128,485.58. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Susan Patricia Griffith sold 5,939 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $169.24, for a total transaction of $1,005,116.36. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 465,737 shares in the company, valued at $78,821,329.88. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 44,629 shares of company stock worth $8,348,176 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Progressive Price Performance

Shares of Progressive stock traded up $2.35 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $208.94. 1,818,055 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,575,025. The stock has a market cap of $122.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.15, a PEG ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 0.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 0.31 and a current ratio of 0.36. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $197.64 and its 200-day moving average price is $173.59. The Progressive Co. has a 12 month low of $111.41 and a 12 month high of $212.24.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 12th. The insurance provider reported $3.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.20 by $0.74. The company had revenue of $18.96 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.88 billion. Progressive had a net margin of 8.89% and a return on equity of 29.43%. The firm’s revenue was up 17.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.65 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that The Progressive Co. will post 10.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 4th were issued a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.19%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, April 3rd. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 4.09%.

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.