The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) Stock Holdings Lowered by Ancora Advisors LLC

Ancora Advisors LLC lowered its position in shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 2.7% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 19,422 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 529 shares during the period. Ancora Advisors LLC’s holdings in Progressive were worth $4,017,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Sachetta LLC bought a new position in Progressive in the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Northwest Bank & Trust Co bought a new position in shares of Progressive during the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Valley National Advisers Inc. boosted its position in shares of Progressive by 143.6% during the 4th quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 190 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 112 shares in the last quarter. Indiana Trust & Investment Management CO bought a new position in shares of Progressive during the 1st quarter valued at about $32,000. Finally, Register Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Progressive during the 1st quarter valued at about $35,000. Institutional investors own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Progressive from $243.00 to $254.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, June 17th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Progressive from $235.00 to $239.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on shares of Progressive from $256.00 to $257.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Progressive from $216.00 to $218.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of Progressive from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $210.00 to $245.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $222.94.

Progressive Stock Down 0.8 %

Shares of PGR stock traded down $1.73 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $213.95. 1,461,630 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,576,132. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 0.32 and a current ratio of 0.33. The firm has a market capitalization of $125.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.08, a P/E/G ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 0.35. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $210.63 and its 200 day simple moving average is $202.13. The Progressive Co. has a twelve month low of $124.06 and a twelve month high of $229.00.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 16th. The insurance provider reported $2.65 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.04 by $0.61. The business had revenue of $17.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17.54 billion. Progressive had a net margin of 10.17% and a return on equity of 33.01%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 21.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.57 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that The Progressive Co. will post 12.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 12th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 3rd were paid a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.19%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, July 3rd. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 4.09%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Progressive

In other Progressive news, CIO Jonathan S. Bauer sold 2,467 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $214.01, for a total value of $527,962.67. Following the completion of the sale, the executive now directly owns 24,720 shares in the company, valued at $5,290,327.20. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 22,708 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $214.01, for a total value of $4,859,739.08. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 302,958 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $64,836,041.58. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CIO Jonathan S. Bauer sold 2,467 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $214.01, for a total transaction of $527,962.67. Following the completion of the sale, the executive now directly owns 24,720 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,290,327.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 108,168 shares of company stock worth $22,937,984 over the last ninety days. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by 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.