Insider Selling: The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) CFO Sells 10,000 Shares of Stock

The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $238.66, for a total value of $2,386,600.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 282,958 shares in the company, valued at $67,530,756.28. The trade was a 3.41 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

Progressive Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of Progressive stock opened at $240.65 on Friday. The Progressive Co. has a 12-month low of $161.56 and a 12-month high of $270.62. The company has a quick ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 0.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. The business’s 50 day moving average is $251.58 and its 200-day moving average is $239.85. The stock has a market cap of $140.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.49, a P/E/G ratio of 0.70 and a beta of 0.38.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The insurance provider reported $3.58 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.40 by $0.18. The firm had revenue of $19.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $18.95 billion. Progressive had a net margin of 11.27% and a return on equity of 33.10%. Equities research analysts predict that The Progressive Co. will post 13.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 16th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 9th will be given a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.17%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, January 9th. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 2.91%.

Institutional Trading of Progressive

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. SMART Wealth LLC bought a new stake in Progressive in the 3rd quarter valued at $295,000. DGS Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Progressive in the third quarter valued at about $458,000. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas acquired a new stake in shares of Progressive during the 3rd quarter worth about $35,253,000. Synovus Financial Corp lifted its stake in shares of Progressive by 6.4% during the 3rd quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 2,069 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $525,000 after buying an additional 124 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tidal Investments LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Progressive by 65.8% during the 3rd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 72,163 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $18,312,000 after buying an additional 28,636 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently commented on PGR. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Progressive from $299.00 to $302.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Bank of America raised 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Progressive from $242.00 to $251.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Progressive from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on shares of Progressive from $280.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $275.65.

About Progressive

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.