The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) Shares Acquired by Trust Co. of Vermont

Trust Co. of Vermont lifted its stake in shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 4.9% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 2,362 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 110 shares during the period. Trust Co. of Vermont’s holdings in Progressive were worth $491,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. City State Bank boosted its holdings in Progressive by 8.2% in the second quarter. City State Bank now owns 661 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $137,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC boosted its holdings in Progressive by 1.2% in the first quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC now owns 4,640 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $960,000 after purchasing an additional 56 shares in the last quarter. Balentine LLC boosted its holdings in Progressive by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Balentine LLC now owns 22,162 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $3,530,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Progressive by 4.1% in the first quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,579 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $327,000 after purchasing an additional 62 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Proficio Capital Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Progressive by 3.2% in the first quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,053 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $425,000 after purchasing an additional 63 shares in the last quarter. 85.34% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have weighed in on PGR. Citigroup reduced their price objective on Progressive from $232.00 to $225.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Progressive from $243.00 to $254.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, June 17th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on shares of Progressive from $256.00 to $257.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised shares of Progressive from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their target price for the company from $210.00 to $245.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, Bank of America upped their target price on shares of Progressive from $276.00 to $293.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Progressive currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $222.94.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Progressive news, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 12,457 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $204.43, for a total transaction of $2,546,584.51. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 312,958 shares in the company, valued at $63,978,003.94. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other news, CAO Mariann Wojtkun Marshall sold 650 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.11, for a total value of $135,271.50. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 3,981 shares in the company, valued at $828,485.91. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 12,457 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $204.43, for a total transaction of $2,546,584.51. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 312,958 shares in the company, valued at $63,978,003.94. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 108,168 shares of company stock worth $22,937,984. 0.34% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Progressive Stock Performance

Shares of Progressive stock traded up $3.10 on Tuesday, reaching $214.01. 2,704,942 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,576,505. The Progressive Co. has a 1-year low of $124.06 and a 1-year high of $229.00. The company has a current ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 0.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $211.43 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $203.40. The firm has a market capitalization of $125.35 billion, a PE ratio of 21.90, a PEG ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 0.35.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 16th. The insurance provider reported $2.65 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.04 by $0.61. Progressive had a net margin of 10.17% and a return on equity of 33.01%. The company had revenue of $17.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.54 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.57 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 21.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that The Progressive Co. will post 12.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 3rd. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.19%. Progressive’s payout ratio is currently 4.09%.

Progressive 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.