Janus Henderson Group PLC Has $1.68 Billion Stock Holdings in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Janus Henderson Group PLC reduced its position in shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 2.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 7,013,823 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 158,850 shares during the quarter. Progressive comprises about 0.9% of Janus Henderson Group PLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 13th biggest position. Janus Henderson Group PLC owned approximately 1.20% of Progressive worth $1,680,776,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Kesler Norman & Wride LLC grew its holdings in shares of Progressive by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Kesler Norman & Wride LLC now owns 3,695 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $885,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. Atlantic Edge Private Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Progressive by 54.7% during the fourth quarter. Atlantic Edge Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 116 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. Washington Trust Bank increased its holdings in Progressive by 4.1% during the 4th quarter. Washington Trust Bank now owns 1,066 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $255,000 after purchasing an additional 42 shares during the period. SYM FINANCIAL Corp lifted its holdings in Progressive by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. SYM FINANCIAL Corp now owns 1,602 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $384,000 after buying an additional 44 shares during the period. Finally, Monument Capital Management increased its stake in shares of Progressive by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Monument Capital Management now owns 13,762 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $3,298,000 after buying an additional 44 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Progressive from $324.00 to $328.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Roth Mkm raised their price objective on shares of Progressive from $290.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Bank of America upgraded Progressive from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $312.00 target price on the stock in a report on Monday, April 28th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated a “market perform” rating and issued a $288.00 target price on shares of Progressive in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on Progressive from $275.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, March 14th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Progressive has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $287.65.

Progressive Trading Up 0.1 %

NYSE:PGR opened at $284.33 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $166.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.75, a PEG ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.40. The company has a quick ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 0.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $275.16 and its 200-day moving average price is $260.37. The Progressive Co. has a 52 week low of $201.34 and a 52 week high of $292.99.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 16th. The insurance provider reported $4.65 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.28 by $0.37. The business had revenue of $22.21 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $21.87 billion. Progressive had a return on equity of 33.79% and a net margin of 11.25%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that The Progressive Co. will post 14.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd were given a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.14%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 3rd. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 2.70%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Progressive

In other news, insider Patrick K. Callahan sold 4,669 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $279.70, for a total value of $1,305,919.30. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 15,191 shares in the company, valued at $4,248,922.70. This trade represents a 23.51 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 1,542 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $282.66, for a total value of $435,861.72. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 268,024 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $75,759,663.84. This trade represents a 0.57 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 39,894 shares of company stock worth $11,020,097. Company insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

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.