MASTERINVEST Kapitalanlage GmbH Reduces Stock Holdings in The Progressive Corporation $PGR

MASTERINVEST Kapitalanlage GmbH lowered its stake in shares of The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) by 12.6% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 28,439 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 4,109 shares during the period. MASTERINVEST Kapitalanlage GmbH’s holdings in Progressive were worth $5,638,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Sanctuary Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Progressive by 2.8% in the 1st quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 85,240 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $16,898,000 after buying an additional 2,322 shares during the last quarter. Sigma Planning Corp lifted its position in Progressive by 10.0% in the first quarter. Sigma Planning Corp now owns 2,454 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $487,000 after acquiring an additional 224 shares during the last quarter. 1ST Source Bank boosted its stake in Progressive by 34.6% in the first quarter. 1ST Source Bank now owns 1,608 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $319,000 after acquiring an additional 413 shares in the last quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC boosted its stake in Progressive by 7.2% in the first quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC now owns 5,761 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,142,000 after acquiring an additional 388 shares in the last quarter. Finally, ABC Arbitrage SA purchased a new position in shares of Progressive during the first quarter worth about $242,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently commented on PGR. Bank of America cut their target price on Progressive from $331.00 to $313.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated a “neutral” rating and set a $250.00 price target on shares of Progressive in a research note on Tuesday. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on Progressive from $205.00 to $190.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 31st. Weiss Ratings cut Progressive from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price objective on Progressive from $216.00 to $215.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 24th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have given a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $236.74.

Insider Activity at Progressive

In other Progressive news, insider Steven Broz sold 1,157 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $204.76, for a total value of $236,907.32. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 27,511 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,633,152.36. The trade was a 4.04% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Jeffrey D. Kelly sold 7,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $216.33, for a total transaction of $1,514,310.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 22,546 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,877,376.18. The trade was a 23.69% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 15,230 shares of company stock worth $3,165,817 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.32% of the company’s stock.

Progressive Stock Down 3.7%

PGR opened at $225.89 on Wednesday. The Progressive Corporation has a 52 week low of $189.20 and a 52 week high of $254.93. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $208.13 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $206.80. The company has a quick ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 0.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The company has a market cap of $131.99 billion, a PE ratio of 11.48, a P/E/G ratio of 4.43 and a beta of 0.26.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 15th. The insurance provider reported $4.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.67 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $22.19 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $23.51 billion. Progressive had a return on equity of 33.47% and a net margin of 12.92%.The company’s revenue was up 6.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $4.37 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that The Progressive Corporation will post 17.3 EPS for the current year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 2nd were issued a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 2nd. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.2%. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 2.03%.

Progressive Profile

Progressive Corporation is a large U.S.-based property and casualty insurer that primarily underwrites personal auto insurance along with a broad suite of related products. Its offerings include coverage for private passenger automobiles, commercial auto fleets, motorcycles, boats and recreational vehicles, as well as homeowners, renters, umbrella and other specialty P&C products. Progressive also provides claims handling, risk management and related services to individual and commercial policyholders.

The company distributes its products through a mix of direct channels—online and by phone—and an extensive independent agent network.