Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. Cuts Stock Holdings in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. lessened its holdings in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 2.9% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 4,713 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 142 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co.’s holdings in Progressive were worth $1,129,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Davis Capital Management purchased a new stake in Progressive during the third quarter worth $25,000. Webster Bank N. A. purchased a new stake in shares of Progressive during the 4th quarter worth $26,000. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. boosted its position in Progressive by 114.1% during the third quarter. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. now owns 137 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 73 shares in the last quarter. Kimelman & Baird LLC purchased a new position in Progressive in the second quarter valued at about $36,000. Finally, Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Progressive during the third quarter valued at about $49,000. 85.34% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on PGR shares. Raymond James raised shares of Progressive from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $305.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 26th. StockNews.com raised Progressive from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Bank of America raised their price objective on Progressive from $331.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on Progressive from $310.00 to $300.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, TD Cowen raised their price target on Progressive from $197.00 to $237.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 8th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $274.65.

Progressive Stock Performance

NYSE PGR opened at $246.25 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $144.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.90, a PEG ratio of 0.62 and a beta of 0.41. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $247.89 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $244.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a current ratio of 0.30. The Progressive Co. has a fifty-two week low of $175.50 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 the consensus estimate of $3.44 by $0.64. Progressive had a return on equity of 33.10% and a net margin of 11.27%. On average, equities analysts forecast that The Progressive Co. will post 13.51 earnings per share for the current year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 16th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 9th were issued a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.16%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 2.91%.

Insider Activity at Progressive

In related news, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction on Monday, December 30th. The shares were 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 owns 282,958 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $67,530,756.28. This trade represents a 3.41 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Susan Patricia Griffith sold 9,066 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $242.10, for a total transaction of $2,194,878.60. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 473,736 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $114,691,485.60. This represents a 1.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 42,506 shares of company stock worth $10,531,159. 0.34% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.