Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG Purchases New Holdings in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG purchased a new stake in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm purchased 950 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $269,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of PGR. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Progressive in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,843,045,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in shares of Progressive by 39,285.0% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,046,037 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $862,059,000 after purchasing an additional 3,038,303 shares in the last quarter. GQG Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Progressive by 67.6% in the fourth quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 5,171,501 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,239,143,000 after purchasing an additional 2,085,833 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Progressive in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $408,416,000. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors increased its holdings in shares of Progressive by 34.3% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 6,058,187 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,451,602,000 after purchasing an additional 1,547,677 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Progressive Trading Down 0.5%

Shares of NYSE PGR opened at $266.46 on Tuesday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $276.19 and its 200-day moving average is $264.50. The stock has a market cap of $156.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.50, a P/E/G ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.40. The Progressive Co. has a twelve month low of $204.62 and a twelve month 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 posted its quarterly earnings data 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 analysts’ expectations of $21.87 billion. Progressive had a net margin of 11.25% and a return on equity of 33.79%. Equities research analysts predict that The Progressive Co. will post 14.68 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Progressive

In related news, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $275.94, for a total value of $2,759,400.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 258,024 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $71,199,142.56. The trade was a 3.73% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Devin C. Johnson sold 400 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 25th. The shares were 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 directly owns 8,370 shares in the company, valued at $2,302,084.80. This represents a 4.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 34,517 shares of company stock valued at $9,451,821. 0.34% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on PGR. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of Progressive from $282.00 to $288.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Progressive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and set a $288.00 target price on shares of Progressive in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their target price on shares of Progressive from $327.00 to $319.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 11th. Finally, Bank of America raised shares of Progressive from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $312.00 target price for the company in a report on Monday, April 28th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Progressive currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $288.59.

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.