The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) Shares Acquired by Daiwa Securities Group Inc.

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. grew its position in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 8.4% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 53,147 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,127 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.’s holdings in Progressive were worth $8,466,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in shares of Progressive by 14.1% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 21,554,503 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $3,002,542,000 after buying an additional 2,666,449 shares in the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. grew its stake in Progressive by 4.3% during the 2nd quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 9,754,850 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,291,249,000 after purchasing an additional 403,527 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake in Progressive by 10.5% during the 3rd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 6,916,460 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $963,463,000 after purchasing an additional 655,706 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley grew its stake in Progressive by 25.4% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 6,721,345 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $871,826,000 after purchasing an additional 1,361,665 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Progressive during the 4th quarter worth $840,885,000. 85.34% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PGR has been the subject of several analyst reports. UBS Group boosted their target price on Progressive from $216.00 to $218.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Bank of America lowered their target price on Progressive from $279.00 to $273.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. TD Cowen initiated coverage on Progressive in a research report on Wednesday, January 10th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $174.00 price objective for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Progressive from $171.00 to $202.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Finally, Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $240.00 price objective on shares of Progressive in a research report on Monday, April 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $211.88.

Progressive Stock Up 0.3 %

PGR opened at $209.75 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $199.28 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $174.57. The company has a quick ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The company has a market cap of $122.85 billion, a PE ratio of 21.47, a P/E/G ratio of 0.83 and a beta of 0.35. The Progressive Co. has a 52 week low of $111.41 and a 52 week high of $212.24.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 12th. The insurance provider reported $3.94 EPS 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 firm’s revenue was up 17.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.65 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that The Progressive Co. will post 11.16 EPS for the current year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 4th were paid a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis 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 4.09%.

Insider Transactions at Progressive

In other news, insider Karen Bailo sold 8,464 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $189.49, for a total transaction of $1,603,843.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 32,342 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,128,485.58. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In related news, insider Karen Bailo sold 8,464 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $189.49, for a total value of $1,603,843.36. Following the sale, the insider now owns 32,342 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,128,485.58. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Patrick K. Callahan sold 29,675 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.26, for a total value of $5,645,965.50. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 15,189 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,889,859.14. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

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.