William Blair Investment Management LLC Trims Stake in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

William Blair Investment Management LLC reduced its stake in shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 3.4% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 134,342 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 4,737 shares during the period. William Blair Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Progressive were worth $32,190,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of PGR. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans raised its position in Progressive by 26.2% during the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 139,782 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $35,471,000 after acquiring an additional 29,050 shares in the last quarter. AMG National Trust Bank purchased a new position in Progressive during the third quarter valued at approximately $203,000. Caprock Group LLC raised its position in Progressive by 7.3% during the third quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 14,547 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $3,691,000 after acquiring an additional 995 shares in the last quarter. OneAscent Financial Services LLC purchased a new position in Progressive during the third quarter valued at approximately $592,000. Finally, Banque Cantonale Vaudoise raised its position in Progressive by 56.8% during the third quarter. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise now owns 32,883 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $8,344,000 after acquiring an additional 11,913 shares in the last quarter. 85.34% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Progressive news, insider Andrew J. Quigg sold 681 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $242.10, for a total transaction of $164,870.10. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 33,612 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,137,465.20. The trade was a 1.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Lori A. Niederst sold 3,855 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $247.06, for a total value of $952,416.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 39,040 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,645,222.40. This trade represents a 8.99 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 65,495 shares of company stock valued at $16,668,034. Insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently commented on PGR. Roth Mkm boosted their price objective on Progressive from $290.00 to $315.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on Progressive from $273.00 to $267.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, December 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Progressive from $251.00 to $256.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Progressive from $300.00 to $307.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Bank of America cut their price objective on Progressive from $333.00 to $318.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $281.76.

Progressive Stock Performance

NYSE PGR opened at $282.64 on Wednesday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $259.99 and its two-hundred day moving average is $254.57. The firm has a market capitalization of $165.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a current ratio of 0.31. The Progressive Co. has a fifty-two week low of $201.34 and a fifty-two week high of $292.99.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The insurance provider reported $4.08 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.44 by $0.64. Progressive had a return on equity of 33.79% and a net margin of 11.25%. On average, research analysts anticipate that The Progressive Co. will post 14.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.14%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 3rd. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 2.78%.

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.