The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) Position Cut by American Century Companies Inc.

American Century Companies Inc. trimmed its stake in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 5.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 2,440,265 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 152,697 shares during the quarter. American Century Companies Inc. owned approximately 0.42% of Progressive worth $584,712,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Advisors Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Progressive by 29.8% during the 3rd quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 15,240 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $3,867,000 after buying an additional 3,498 shares during the last quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. lifted its position in shares of Progressive by 168.9% during the third quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 3,848 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $976,000 after purchasing an additional 2,417 shares in the last quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI lifted its position in shares of Progressive by 11.0% during the third quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 14,381 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $3,649,000 after purchasing an additional 1,421 shares in the last quarter. Trustmark National Bank Trust Department lifted its position in shares of Progressive by 40.2% during the third quarter. Trustmark National Bank Trust Department now owns 1,363 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $346,000 after purchasing an additional 391 shares in the last quarter. Finally, LPL Financial LLC lifted its position in shares of Progressive by 20.5% during the third quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 391,273 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $99,290,000 after purchasing an additional 66,628 shares in the last quarter. 85.34% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have commented on PGR shares. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Progressive from $264.00 to $285.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Progressive from $251.00 to $256.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Progressive from $300.00 to $307.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. HSBC downgraded shares of Progressive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $267.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on shares of Progressive from $273.00 to $267.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $281.06.

Progressive Price Performance

NYSE:PGR opened at $273.08 on Friday. The Progressive Co. has a 52 week low of $201.34 and a 52 week high of $292.99. The firm has a market cap of $160.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.96, a P/E/G ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.35. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $261.96 and its 200 day simple moving average is $254.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a current ratio of 0.31.

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

Progressive Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be issued a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.15%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 3rd. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio is currently 2.78%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Progressive

In other Progressive news, CAO Mariann Wojtkun Marshall sold 191 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $242.10, for a total value of $46,241.10. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 3,982 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $964,042.20. This trade represents a 4.58 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 1,542 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $282.66, for a total transaction of $435,861.72. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 268,024 shares in the company, valued at $75,759,663.84. This trade represents a 0.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 65,495 shares of company stock valued at $16,668,034 in the last ninety days. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.