Sigma Planning Corp Sells 736 Shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Sigma Planning Corp reduced its stake in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 12.8% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 5,026 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 736 shares during the quarter. Sigma Planning Corp’s holdings in Progressive were worth $1,204,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Progressive by 13.2% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,425,792 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $3,652,235,000 after acquiring an additional 1,682,213 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its stake in shares of Progressive by 21.6% in the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 4,749,628 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,205,266,000 after purchasing an additional 842,109 shares in the last quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec grew its holdings in shares of Progressive by 75.3% in the 3rd quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 1,494,084 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $379,139,000 after purchasing an additional 641,943 shares during the last quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund increased its position in shares of Progressive by 102.3% during the 3rd quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 1,024,992 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $260,102,000 after purchasing an additional 518,262 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Erste Asset Management GmbH acquired a new stake in shares of Progressive during the 3rd quarter worth about $125,044,000. 85.34% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Progressive Trading Up 2.5 %

PGR opened at $272.91 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $247.35 and a 200 day simple moving average of $249.74. The Progressive Co. has a fifty-two week low of $186.94 and a fifty-two week high of $275.52. The company has a market cap of $159.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 0.31 and a quick ratio of 0.30.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The insurance provider reported $4.08 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.44 by $0.64. Progressive had a net margin of 11.25% and a return on equity of 33.79%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that The Progressive Co. will post 14.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 16th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 9th were issued a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.15%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 10th. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 2.78%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have weighed in on PGR. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Progressive from $300.00 to $307.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price target on Progressive from $273.00 to $267.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Hsbc Global Res downgraded Progressive from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Progressive from $313.00 to $317.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Progressive from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $276.12.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Progressive news, insider Lori A. Niederst sold 3,855 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $247.06, for a total value of $952,416.30. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 39,040 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,645,222.40. This trade represents a 8.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $238.66, for a total transaction of $2,386,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 282,958 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $67,530,756.28. This trade represents a 3.41 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 56,361 shares of company stock worth $13,983,575. 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.