The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) Shares Sold by Schechter Investment Advisors LLC

Schechter Investment Advisors LLC reduced its stake in shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 29.5% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 6,359 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 2,663 shares during the quarter. Schechter Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Progressive were worth $1,013,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Giverny Capital Inc. grew its position in Progressive by 2.9% during the third quarter. Giverny Capital Inc. now owns 501,431 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $69,849,000 after buying an additional 14,022 shares during the period. Confluence Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of Progressive by 3.9% in the third quarter. Confluence Investment Management LLC now owns 1,263,862 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $176,056,000 after purchasing an additional 47,658 shares during the last quarter. AIA Group Ltd grew its position in shares of Progressive by 4.9% in the third quarter. AIA Group Ltd now owns 155,427 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $21,651,000 after purchasing an additional 7,268 shares during the last quarter. First Affirmative Financial Network acquired a new stake in shares of Progressive in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $295,000. Finally, DNB Asset Management AS grew its position in shares of Progressive by 4.0% in the fourth quarter. DNB Asset Management AS now owns 139,368 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $22,199,000 after purchasing an additional 5,403 shares during the last quarter. 85.34% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently commented on PGR. Bank of America increased their price target on shares of Progressive from $256.00 to $261.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 4th. Raymond James lowered shares of Progressive from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 12th. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Progressive from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the company from $185.00 to $227.00 in a research report on Wednesday, March 6th. Piper Sandler increased their price target on shares of Progressive from $188.00 to $207.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on shares of Progressive from $185.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, March 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Progressive currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $184.50.

Progressive Stock Performance

NYSE:PGR opened at $206.15 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 0.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. The company has a market cap of $120.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.33, a P/E/G ratio of 0.93 and a beta of 0.34. The Progressive Co. has a fifty-two week low of $111.41 and a fifty-two week high of $207.87. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $188.82 and its two-hundred day moving average is $167.00.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 24th. The insurance provider reported $2.96 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.43 by $0.53. The company had revenue of $16.89 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.10 billion. Progressive had a net margin of 6.28% and a return on equity of 21.25%. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.52 earnings per share. Analysts expect that The Progressive Co. will post 9.82 EPS for the current year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 4th will be paid a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.19%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 3rd. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio is presently 12.92%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Susan Patricia Griffith sold 13,110 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $162.26, for a total value of $2,127,228.60. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 465,737 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $75,570,485.62. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Susan Patricia Griffith sold 13,110 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $162.26, for a total value of $2,127,228.60. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 465,737 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $75,570,485.62. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Karen Bailo sold 8,464 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $189.49, for a total transaction of $1,603,843.36. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 32,342 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,128,485.58. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 58,949 shares of company stock valued at $10,671,740. Company insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

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.