Private Advisor Group LLC Has $2.74 Million Stock Position in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Private Advisor Group LLC cut its stake in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 4.2% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 11,454 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 504 shares during the quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC’s holdings in Progressive were worth $2,744,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of PGR. Webster Bank N. A. acquired a new position in Progressive during the fourth quarter worth $26,000. Hager Investment Management Services LLC bought a new stake in shares of Progressive in the 4th quarter worth about $28,000. Atlantic Edge Private Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Progressive by 54.7% during the 4th quarter. Atlantic Edge Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 116 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. lifted its holdings in Progressive by 3,000.0% during the 4th quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 124 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 120 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Independence Bank of Kentucky grew its stake in Progressive by 1,650.0% during the fourth quarter. Independence Bank of Kentucky now owns 175 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $42,000 after buying an additional 165 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on Progressive from $273.00 to $267.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, December 16th. Hsbc Global Res cut Progressive from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Progressive from $251.00 to $256.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Progressive from $313.00 to $317.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, HSBC cut shares of Progressive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $267.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $276.12.

Insider Transactions at Progressive

In other news, insider Andrew J. Quigg sold 681 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $242.10, for a total value of $164,870.10. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 33,612 shares in the company, valued at $8,137,465.20. The trade was a 1.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Mariann Wojtkun Marshall sold 191 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $242.10, for a total value of $46,241.10. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 3,982 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $964,042.20. The trade was a 4.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 56,361 shares of company stock valued at $13,983,575 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Progressive Stock Up 2.5 %

Progressive stock opened at $272.91 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $159.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.95, a PEG ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.42. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $247.35 and its 200 day simple moving average is $249.74. 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 $186.94 and a fifty-two week high of $275.52.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The insurance provider reported $4.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 anticipate that The Progressive Co. will post 14.68 EPS for the current year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 16th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 9th were issued a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.15%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 10th. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 2.78%.

Progressive Company 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.