Royal Bank of Canada Increases Stock Holdings in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Royal Bank of Canada lifted its holdings in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 13.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,242,040 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 265,039 shares during the quarter. Royal Bank of Canada owned 0.38% of Progressive worth $537,214,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Progressive by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 53,400,366 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $12,795,262,000 after buying an additional 583,376 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Progressive by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,615,430 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $3,498,363,000 after purchasing an additional 189,638 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Progressive during the fourth quarter worth $1,843,045,000. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in Progressive by 13.0% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 6,179,529 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,480,677,000 after purchasing an additional 710,684 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors raised its holdings in Progressive by 34.3% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 6,058,187 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,451,602,000 after purchasing an additional 1,547,677 shares during the last quarter. 85.34% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Progressive

In other Progressive news, Director Devin C. Johnson sold 400 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $275.04, for a total transaction of $110,016.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 8,370 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,302,084.80. The trade was a 4.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 1,542 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 directly 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. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 39,894 shares of company stock worth $11,020,097. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Progressive Stock Performance

NYSE PGR opened at $285.93 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $167.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.40. The business has a fifty day moving average of $275.35 and a 200-day moving average of $261.55. The Progressive Co. has a fifty-two week low of $201.34 and a fifty-two week high of $292.99. The company has a quick ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 0.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last released 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 firm had revenue of $22.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $21.87 billion. Progressive had a return on equity of 33.79% and a net margin of 11.25%. As a group, analysts predict that The Progressive Co. will post 14.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on PGR shares. Roth Mkm lifted their price objective on Progressive from $290.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Progressive from $267.00 to $287.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Barclays lifted their price objective on Progressive from $285.00 to $297.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, April 11th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Progressive from $282.00 to $288.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price objective on Progressive from $275.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, March 14th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $287.65.

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.