Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd Reduces Holdings in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd decreased its position in shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 8.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 12,293 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 1,132 shares during the period. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd’s holdings in Progressive were worth $2,948,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PGR. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans increased its position in shares of Progressive by 26.2% in the 3rd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 139,782 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $35,471,000 after purchasing an additional 29,050 shares during the last quarter. AMG National Trust Bank bought a new stake in shares of Progressive in the 3rd quarter worth about $203,000. Caprock Group LLC increased its position in shares of Progressive by 7.3% in the 3rd quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 14,547 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $3,691,000 after purchasing an additional 995 shares during the last quarter. OneAscent Financial Services LLC acquired a new position in shares of Progressive in the 3rd quarter valued at about $592,000. Finally, Banque Cantonale Vaudoise boosted its stake in Progressive by 56.8% during the 3rd quarter. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise now owns 32,883 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $8,344,000 after purchasing an additional 11,913 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have issued reports on PGR shares. Bank of America reduced their target price on shares of Progressive from $333.00 to $318.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 10th. HSBC lowered shares of Progressive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $267.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Hsbc Global Res lowered shares of Progressive from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Progressive from $275.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, March 14th. 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 note on Friday, January 3rd. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $281.76.

Progressive Stock Down 2.9 %

NYSE PGR opened at $282.64 on Wednesday. The Progressive Co. has a 12 month low of $201.34 and a 12 month high of $292.99. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $259.99 and its 200 day simple moving average is $254.57. 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 company has a market capitalization of $165.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.63, a PEG ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.35.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The insurance provider reported $4.08 earnings per share (EPS) 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%. Equities research analysts expect that The Progressive Co. will post 14.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 3rd. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.14%. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio is currently 2.78%.

Insider Activity

In other Progressive news, insider Patrick K. Callahan sold 4,669 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $279.70, for a total value of $1,305,919.30. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 15,191 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,248,922.70. This represents a 23.51 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Susan Patricia Griffith sold 9,066 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $242.10, for a total transaction of $2,194,878.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 473,736 shares in the company, valued at approximately $114,691,485.60. This represents a 1.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 65,495 shares of company stock worth $16,668,034 over the last 90 days. 0.34% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.