Chesley Taft & Associates LLC Lowers Stock Holdings in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Chesley Taft & Associates LLC cut its stake in shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 2.6% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 18,080 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 475 shares during the quarter. Chesley Taft & Associates LLC’s holdings in Progressive were worth $3,739,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of PGR. TCW Group Inc. bought a new stake in Progressive during the 4th quarter valued at $1,988,000. Brevan Howard Capital Management LP bought a new position in Progressive in the fourth quarter worth approximately $3,090,000. Invesco LLC raised its stake in Progressive by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Invesco LLC now owns 3,537 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $563,000 after buying an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. Strs Ohio raised its stake in Progressive by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. Strs Ohio now owns 168,187 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $26,788,000 after buying an additional 4,983 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank raised its stake in Progressive by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 210,460 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $33,522,000 after buying an additional 4,443 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Progressive Price Performance

Shares of Progressive stock traded up $3.16 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $211.35. The stock had a trading volume of 1,718,721 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,582,399. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $209.60 and its 200 day moving average is $192.97. The firm has a market capitalization of $123.79 billion, a PE ratio of 21.37, a PEG ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.35. The Progressive Co. has a twelve month low of $111.41 and a twelve month high of $217.77. The company has a current ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 0.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 12th. The insurance provider reported $3.94 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.20 by $0.74. Progressive had a net margin of 8.89% and a return on equity of 29.43%. The firm had revenue of $18.96 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.88 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.65 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that The Progressive Co. will post 11.34 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 12th. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 3rd. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.19%. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 4.09%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PGR has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. BMO Capital Markets reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $235.00 price objective on shares of Progressive in a research note on Monday, June 17th. UBS Group upped their price target on Progressive from $216.00 to $218.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on Progressive from $161.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, March 25th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on Progressive from $241.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 15th. Finally, Bank of America upped their price target on Progressive from $279.00 to $286.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Progressive presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $216.81.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Steven Broz sold 3,050 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $209.81, for a total transaction of $639,920.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 32,453 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,808,963.93. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Progressive news, insider Steven Broz sold 3,050 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $209.81, for a total value of $639,920.50. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 32,453 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,808,963.93. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Mariann Wojtkun Marshall sold 650 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.11, for a total transaction of $135,271.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 3,981 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $828,485.91. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 24,518 shares of company stock worth $5,055,674 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

About Progressive

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.