Stock Traders Buy High Volume of Call Options on Progressive (NYSE:PGR)

The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Wednesday. Stock traders acquired 133,728 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of 5,873% compared to the typical daily volume of 2,239 call options.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have issued reports on the company. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on Progressive from $257.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price target on shares of Progressive from $273.00 to $267.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, December 16th. TD Cowen boosted their target price on shares of Progressive from $197.00 to $237.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 8th. Hsbc Global Res downgraded shares of Progressive from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on 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 assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Progressive currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $275.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Mariann Wojtkun Marshall sold 191 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $242.10, for a total transaction of $46,241.10. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 3,982 shares in the company, valued at $964,042.20. This trade represents a 4.58 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Andrew J. Quigg sold 681 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, January 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $242.10, for a total value of $164,870.10. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 33,612 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,137,465.20. The trade was a 1.99 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 32,919 shares of company stock worth $8,222,168. Company insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Progressive

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of PGR. Private Advisor Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Progressive by 1.6% in the 2nd quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 10,782 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,240,000 after acquiring an additional 172 shares during the last quarter. Savant Capital LLC raised its stake in Progressive by 16.9% during the second quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 9,490 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,971,000 after purchasing an additional 1,369 shares during the period. Certuity LLC boosted its holdings in Progressive by 9.0% in the 2nd quarter. Certuity LLC now owns 1,418 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $295,000 after purchasing an additional 117 shares during the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Progressive by 33.6% during the 2nd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 7,589 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,576,000 after buying an additional 1,908 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Choreo LLC raised its position in shares of Progressive by 167.0% during the 2nd quarter. Choreo LLC now owns 22,859 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $4,786,000 after buying an additional 14,299 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Progressive Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of Progressive stock traded up $1.17 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $243.45. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,553,128 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,198,294. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $251.46 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $240.94. Progressive has a 1-year low of $164.16 and a 1-year high of $270.62. The company has a market cap of $142.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.69, a P/E/G ratio of 0.70 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a quick ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 0.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The insurance provider reported $3.58 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.40 by $0.18. Progressive had a return on equity of 33.10% and a net margin of 11.27%. The firm had revenue of $19.43 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $18.95 billion. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Progressive will post 13.2 earnings per share for the current year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 16th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 9th will be given a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.16%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. Progressive’s payout ratio is 2.91%.

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.