The Progressive Corporation $PGR Shares Sold by Nippon Life Global Investors Americas Inc.

Nippon Life Global Investors Americas Inc. reduced its stake in shares of The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) by 80.1% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 23,740 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 95,280 shares during the quarter. Nippon Life Global Investors Americas Inc.’s holdings in Progressive were worth $5,863,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Progressive by 0.9% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 54,516,288 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $14,548,217,000 after purchasing an additional 493,332 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Progressive by 2.0% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 15,513,188 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $4,128,055,000 after buying an additional 301,371 shares during the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. increased its position in Progressive by 32.8% during the second quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 10,972,574 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,928,141,000 after buying an additional 2,709,417 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Progressive in the second quarter valued at approximately $2,156,939,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Progressive by 1.1% in the second quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,129,069 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,101,883,000 after buying an additional 42,909 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on PGR shares. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “hold” rating on shares of Progressive in a research report on Wednesday, December 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of Progressive from $303.00 to $275.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 7th. HSBC set a $259.00 target price on shares of Progressive and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a report on Monday, November 17th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on Progressive from $250.00 to $252.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 6th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on Progressive from $253.00 to $239.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Progressive presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $259.39.

Insider Transactions at Progressive

In related news, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 5,000 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $228.48, for a total transaction of $1,142,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 223,024 shares in the company, valued at $50,956,523.52. The trade was a 2.19% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Steven Broz sold 1,344 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, December 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.80, for a total value of $302,131.20. Following the sale, the insider owned 26,354 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,924,379.20. This trade represents a 4.85% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last three months, insiders sold 9,034 shares of company stock worth $2,047,481. 0.34% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Progressive Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:PGR opened at $202.35 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $118.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 0.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a current ratio of 0.29 and a quick ratio of 0.29. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $222.93 and its 200-day simple moving average is $233.97. The Progressive Corporation has a 12 month low of $199.90 and a 12 month high of $292.99.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 15th. The insurance provider reported $4.45 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $5.04 by ($0.59). Progressive had a net margin of 12.57% and a return on equity of 33.88%. The firm had revenue of $21.38 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $21.64 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $3.58 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that The Progressive Corporation will post 14.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 8th. Investors of record on Friday, January 2nd were paid a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 2nd. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio is presently 2.19%.

Progressive Profile

Progressive Corporation is a large U.S.-based property and casualty insurer that primarily underwrites personal auto insurance along with a broad suite of related products. Its offerings include coverage for private passenger automobiles, commercial auto fleets, motorcycles, boats and recreational vehicles, as well as homeowners, renters, umbrella and other specialty P&C products. Progressive also provides claims handling, risk management and related services to individual and commercial policyholders.

The company distributes its products through a mix of direct channels—online and by phone—and an extensive independent agent network.