Clearbridge Investments LLC Trims Stock Holdings in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Clearbridge Investments LLC lowered its holdings in shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 0.7% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 914,838 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 6,739 shares during the quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC’s holdings in Progressive were worth $219,204,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of PGR. Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Progressive by 9.8% in the 4th quarter. Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC now owns 157,058 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $37,633,000 after buying an additional 14,061 shares during the period. Physician Wealth Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Progressive during the fourth quarter worth approximately $82,000. Joseph Group Capital Management raised its stake in shares of Progressive by 13.1% during the fourth quarter. Joseph Group Capital Management now owns 11,637 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,788,000 after acquiring an additional 1,346 shares in the last quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System boosted its holdings in shares of Progressive by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 2,491,193 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $596,915,000 after purchasing an additional 35,954 shares during the period. Finally, Schroder Investment Management Group boosted its holdings in shares of Progressive by 14.9% in the fourth quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 918,230 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $220,017,000 after purchasing an additional 118,802 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PGR has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Progressive from $300.00 to $307.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. HSBC downgraded Progressive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $267.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Hsbc Global Res downgraded shares of Progressive from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Bank of America reduced their price target on shares of Progressive from $318.00 to $300.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Progressive from $313.00 to $317.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Progressive presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $281.06.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Devin C. Johnson sold 400 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $275.04, for a total value of $110,016.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 8,370 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,302,084.80. This represents a 4.56 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Susan Patricia Griffith sold 9,066 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $242.10, for a total value of $2,194,878.60. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 473,736 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $114,691,485.60. This represents a 1.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 56,255 shares of company stock valued at $14,490,871. Insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Progressive Stock Up 1.6 %

Shares of PGR stock opened at $279.13 on Monday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $265.32 and its 200 day moving average price is $255.91. The Progressive Co. has a 1-year low of $201.34 and a 1-year high of $292.99. The company has a market cap of $163.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.38, 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 current ratio of 0.31 and a quick ratio of 0.30.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 expect that The Progressive Co. will post 14.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 3rd. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.14%. Progressive’s payout ratio is 2.78%.

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.