Essex Financial Services Inc. Has $270,000 Position in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Essex Financial Services Inc. reduced its position in shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 3.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,694 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 56 shares during the period. Essex Financial Services Inc.’s holdings in Progressive were worth $270,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of PGR. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in shares of Progressive by 14.1% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 21,554,503 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $3,002,542,000 after buying an additional 2,666,449 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in Progressive by 31.8% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,781,075 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $666,004,000 after purchasing an additional 1,154,591 shares during the last quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC boosted its position in Progressive by 102.9% during the third quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 2,131,601 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $296,932,000 after purchasing an additional 1,080,834 shares during the last quarter. J.P. Morgan Private Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Progressive during the third quarter valued at approximately $88,528,000. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in Progressive by 62.2% during the third quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,484,903 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $206,847,000 after purchasing an additional 569,529 shares during the last quarter. 85.34% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently commented on the company. Roth Mkm increased their price target on Progressive from $215.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 18th. UBS Group increased their price target on Progressive from $216.00 to $218.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on Progressive from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $240.00 price objective on shares of Progressive in a research note on Monday, April 1st. Finally, HSBC upped their price objective on Progressive from $174.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $211.88.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Progressive news, insider Karen Bailo sold 8,464 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $189.49, for a total transaction of $1,603,843.36. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 32,342 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,128,485.58. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Progressive news, insider Karen Bailo sold 8,464 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $189.49, for a total value of $1,603,843.36. Following the sale, the insider now owns 32,342 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,128,485.58. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Devin C. Johnson sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.33, for a total value of $208,330.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 7,176 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,494,976.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 39,139 shares of company stock worth $7,458,139 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Progressive Price Performance

Shares of NYSE PGR opened at $208.72 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $122.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.34. The company has a current ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The Progressive Co. has a 1-year low of $111.41 and a 1-year high of $216.21. The business’s 50 day moving average is $203.96 and its 200-day moving average is $179.25.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 12th. The insurance provider reported $3.94 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.20 by $0.74. Progressive had a return on equity of 29.43% and a net margin of 8.89%. The firm had revenue of $18.96 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.88 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.65 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 17.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that The Progressive Co. will post 11.34 earnings per share for the current year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 4th were paid a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, April 3rd. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.19%. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 4.09%.

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.