Central Bank & Trust Co. Has $6.66 Million Stake in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Central Bank & Trust Co. lowered its stake in shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 16.1% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 23,543 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 4,510 shares during the period. Progressive comprises approximately 1.1% of Central Bank & Trust Co.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 29th biggest holding. Central Bank & Trust Co.’s holdings in Progressive were worth $6,663,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Park Avenue Securities LLC grew its stake in Progressive by 10.7% in the 1st quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 28,072 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $7,945,000 after buying an additional 2,708 shares in the last quarter. OLD National Bancorp IN increased its stake in Progressive by 18.5% in the first quarter. OLD National Bancorp IN now owns 2,005 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $567,000 after acquiring an additional 313 shares during the last quarter. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. purchased a new stake in Progressive during the first quarter valued at about $3,331,000. One Plus One Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Progressive by 16.3% during the first quarter. One Plus One Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,452 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $411,000 after buying an additional 203 shares during the period. Finally, Miracle Mile Advisors LLC boosted its position in Progressive by 108.0% during the first quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC now owns 1,745 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $494,000 after buying an additional 906 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PGR has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Progressive from $324.00 to $328.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Progressive from $282.00 to $288.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Morgan Stanley set a $330.00 target price on shares of Progressive and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, May 19th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Progressive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on shares of Progressive from $285.00 to $297.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $288.59.

Insider Activity

In other Progressive news, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $268.59, for a total transaction of $2,685,900.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 248,024 shares in the company, valued at approximately $66,616,766.16. The trade was a 3.88% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Steven Broz sold 1,267 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $277.81, for a total transaction of $351,985.27. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 28,888 shares in the company, valued at $8,025,375.28. This represents a 4.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 37,755 shares of company stock valued at $10,367,074 in the last ninety days. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Progressive Stock Down 0.4%

PGR stock opened at $279.19 on Friday. The Progressive Co. has a 52 week low of $201.34 and a 52 week high of $292.99. The stock has a market capitalization of $163.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.39, a P/E/G ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.40. 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 firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $276.19 and a 200-day simple moving average of $264.49.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 16th. The insurance provider reported $4.65 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.28 by $0.37. The firm had revenue of $22.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $21.87 billion. Progressive had a net margin of 11.25% and a return on equity of 33.79%. Equities analysts forecast that The Progressive Co. will post 14.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 3rd. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.14%. Progressive’s payout ratio is currently 2.70%.

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.