Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co. Sells 193 Shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co. lowered its stake in shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 11.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,428 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 193 shares during the quarter. Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co.’s holdings in Progressive were worth $342,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Webster Bank N. A. bought a new stake in Progressive in the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Valley National Advisers Inc. increased its holdings in Progressive by 3,000.0% in the 4th quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 124 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 120 shares during the period. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. increased its holdings in Progressive by 114.1% in the 3rd quarter. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. now owns 137 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 73 shares during the period. Independence Bank of Kentucky grew its holdings in shares of Progressive by 1,650.0% in the 4th quarter. Independence Bank of Kentucky now owns 175 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 165 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Progressive in the 3rd quarter worth about $49,000. Institutional investors own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on PGR. BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on shares of Progressive from $273.00 to $267.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, December 16th. Bank of America upped their target price on shares of Progressive from $331.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 18th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Progressive from $300.00 to $307.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Progressive from $302.00 to $313.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Progressive from $251.00 to $256.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $275.71.

Insider Activity at Progressive

In related news, insider Andrew J. Quigg sold 681 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $242.10, for a total transaction of $164,870.10. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 33,612 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,137,465.20. This represents a 1.99 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Susan Patricia Griffith sold 11,021 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $243.29, for a total value of $2,681,299.09. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 473,736 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $115,255,231.44. The trade was a 2.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 56,361 shares of company stock worth $13,983,575 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Progressive Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:PGR opened at $248.13 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $145.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.23, a P/E/G ratio of 0.63 and a beta of 0.42. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $246.68 and its 200 day simple moving average is $245.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 0.31 and a quick ratio of 0.30. The Progressive Co. has a fifty-two week low of $179.90 and a fifty-two week high of $270.62.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The insurance provider reported $4.08 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.44 by $0.64. Progressive had a net margin of 11.25% and a return on equity of 33.79%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that The Progressive Co. will post 14.4 earnings per share for the current year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 16th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 9th were given a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.16%. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio is 2.78%.

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.