The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) to Issue $0.10 Quarterly Dividend

The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) announced a quarterly dividend on Monday, March 10th, RTT News reports. Investors of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be given a dividend of 0.10 per share by the insurance provider on Friday, April 11th. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.14%.

Progressive has decreased its dividend by an average of 17.9% per year over the last three years. Progressive has a dividend payout ratio of 28.9% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Progressive to earn $15.40 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $4.50 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 29.2%.

Progressive Price Performance

Shares of Progressive stock opened at $278.74 on Tuesday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $255.01 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $253.08. Progressive has a 12-month low of $195.43 and a 12-month high of $287.49. The firm has a market cap of $163.40 billion, a PE ratio of 19.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.35. The company has a quick ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 0.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The insurance provider reported $4.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.44 by $0.64. Progressive had a return on equity of 33.79% and a net margin of 11.25%. As a group, equities analysts expect that Progressive will post 14.68 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on PGR shares. Raymond James raised Progressive from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $305.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Progressive from $251.00 to $256.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Roth Mkm raised their target price on shares of Progressive from $290.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. StockNews.com raised shares of Progressive from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price target on shares of Progressive from $295.00 to $294.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $276.59.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CIO Jonathan S. Bauer sold 1,227 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $281.00, for a total transaction of $344,787.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive now owns 28,393 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,978,433. This trade represents a 4.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction on Monday, December 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $238.66, for a total value of $2,386,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 282,958 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $67,530,756.28. The trade was a 3.41 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 62,257 shares of company stock valued at $15,752,781. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Progressive

A hedge fund recently raised its stake in Progressive stock. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its stake in shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 15.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,392 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 457 shares during the period. Brighton Jones LLC’s holdings in Progressive were worth $813,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period. Institutional investors own 85.34% 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.