Phoenix Financial Ltd. Has $13.19 Million Position in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Phoenix Financial Ltd. reduced its stake in shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 17.9% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 55,055 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 12,015 shares during the quarter. Phoenix Financial Ltd.’s holdings in Progressive were worth $13,192,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Webster Bank N. A. bought a new stake in shares of Progressive during the fourth quarter worth $26,000. Hager Investment Management Services LLC bought a new stake in shares of Progressive during the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Atlantic Edge Private Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Progressive by 54.7% in the fourth quarter. Atlantic Edge Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 116 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. boosted its holdings in Progressive by 3,000.0% in the fourth quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 124 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 120 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Atala Financial Inc bought a new position in Progressive in the fourth quarter valued at about $32,000. Institutional investors own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CAO Mariann Wojtkun Marshall sold 585 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $243.29, for a total transaction of $142,324.65. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 3,983 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $969,024.07. This trade represents a 12.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $275.94, for a total value of $2,759,400.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 258,024 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $71,199,142.56. This trade represents a 3.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 56,317 shares of company stock valued at $14,844,282 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Progressive Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE PGR opened at $270.69 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. The Progressive Co. has a 12 month low of $201.34 and a 12 month high of $292.99. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $270.81 and a 200-day moving average of $256.95. The company has a market capitalization of $158.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.80, a P/E/G ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.38.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The insurance provider reported $4.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.44 by $0.64. Progressive had a return on equity of 33.79% and a net margin of 11.25%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that The Progressive Co. will post 14.68 EPS for the current year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 3rd. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.15%. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 2.78%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PGR has been the topic of several recent research reports. StockNews.com cut Progressive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, April 4th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Progressive from $313.00 to $317.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Roth Mkm raised their target price on Progressive from $290.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. UBS Group raised their target price on Progressive from $275.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, March 14th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Progressive from $267.00 to $287.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $281.41.

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.