Aviva PLC Raises Stock Holdings in The Progressive Corporation $PGR

Aviva PLC raised its holdings in The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) by 6.5% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 498,850 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 30,546 shares during the quarter. Aviva PLC’s holdings in Progressive were worth $113,598,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Dagco Inc. purchased a new stake in Progressive in the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Ameriflex Group Inc. grew its holdings in Progressive by 106.6% during the third quarter. Ameriflex Group Inc. now owns 126 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 65 shares during the period. Entrust Financial LLC acquired a new stake in Progressive during the fourth quarter worth about $33,000. Kingdom Financial Group LLC. purchased a new position in Progressive during the fourth quarter worth approximately $34,000. Finally, Bangor Savings Bank boosted its position in Progressive by 60.4% during the fourth quarter. Bangor Savings Bank now owns 154 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. 85.34% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on PGR shares. Weiss Ratings downgraded Progressive from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Mizuho reduced their price objective on Progressive from $235.00 to $223.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 20th. Evercore reissued a “negative” rating on shares of Progressive in a research note on Wednesday, March 18th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Progressive from $218.00 to $222.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 21st. Finally, Barclays set a $247.00 target price on Progressive in a research note on Wednesday, March 18th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Progressive has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $238.11.

Progressive Stock Performance

Shares of PGR stock opened at $202.41 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $118.27 billion, a PE ratio of 10.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.92 and a beta of 0.28. The Progressive Corporation has a 52-week low of $189.20 and a 52-week high of $269.84. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $199.01 and its 200 day moving average price is $208.09. The company has a quick ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 0.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 15th. The insurance provider reported $4.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.67 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $22.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $23.51 billion. Progressive had a return on equity of 33.47% and a net margin of 12.92%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $4.37 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that The Progressive Corporation will post 16.35 EPS for the current year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 2nd will be given a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 2nd. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.2%. Progressive’s payout ratio is presently 2.03%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Progressive news, insider Steven Broz sold 1,157 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $200.00, for a total transaction of $231,400.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 28,668 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,733,600. The trade was a 3.88% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CAO Carl G. Joyce sold 270 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $206.50, for a total value of $55,755.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 558 shares in the company, valued at $115,227. The trade was a 32.61% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 7,343 shares of company stock worth $1,470,355. Company insiders own 0.32% of the company’s stock.

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.