Schechter Investment Advisors LLC Sells 2,663 Shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Schechter Investment Advisors LLC lessened its holdings in shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 29.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. 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 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Progressive in the fourth quarter worth $840,885,000. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Progressive during the fourth quarter valued at $802,968,000. 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 valued at $3,002,542,000 after buying an additional 2,666,449 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley boosted its position in shares of Progressive by 25.4% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 6,721,345 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $871,826,000 after buying an additional 1,361,665 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 1,154,591 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Progressive from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $144.00 to $176.00 in a research note on Monday, December 18th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Progressive from $192.00 to $202.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, March 18th. Bank of America lifted their target price on Progressive from $256.00 to $261.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 4th. Roth Mkm boosted their price objective on Progressive from $215.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 18th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Progressive from $159.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $184.50.

Insider Buying and Selling at Progressive

In other Progressive news, CEO Susan Patricia Griffith sold 13,110 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $162.26, for a total transaction of $2,127,228.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 465,737 shares in the company, valued at $75,570,485.62. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, insider Andrew J. Quigg sold 551 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $169.24, for a total value of $93,251.24. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 27,921 shares in the company, valued at $4,725,350.04. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Susan Patricia Griffith sold 13,110 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 465,737 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $75,570,485.62. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 58,949 shares of company stock worth $10,671,740 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Progressive Trading Up 0.7 %

PGR opened at $206.15 on Thursday. The firm 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 12 month low of $111.41 and a 12 month high of $207.87. The company has a current ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 0.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $188.82 and a 200 day moving average of $167.00.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 24th. The insurance provider reported $2.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.43 by $0.53. Progressive had a return on equity of 21.25% and a net margin of 6.28%. The business had revenue of $16.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.10 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.52 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast 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. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 4th will be given a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 3rd. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.19%. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 12.92%.

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.