The Progressive Corporation $PGR Holdings Trimmed by London Co. of Virginia

London Co. of Virginia trimmed its holdings in shares of The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) by 2.4% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 1,778,506 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 43,899 shares during the quarter. Progressive accounts for 2.7% of London Co. of Virginia’s holdings, making the stock its 3rd biggest holding. London Co. of Virginia’s holdings in Progressive were worth $474,618,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Progressive by 0.9% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 54,516,288 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $14,548,217,000 after buying an additional 493,332 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Progressive by 2.0% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 15,513,188 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $4,128,055,000 after acquiring an additional 301,371 shares in the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. raised its stake in shares of Progressive by 32.8% during the second quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 10,972,574 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,928,141,000 after acquiring an additional 2,709,417 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Progressive in the second quarter valued at approximately $2,156,939,000. Finally, UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC grew its stake in Progressive by 6.6% in the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 6,380,134 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,805,642,000 after purchasing an additional 396,567 shares in the last quarter. 85.34% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Progressive from $301.00 to $303.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 9th. HSBC set a $259.00 price objective on Progressive and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a report on Monday, November 17th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Progressive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, September 21st. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded shares of Progressive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their target price for the company from $261.00 to $232.00 in a research report on Friday, November 14th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets set a $256.00 price target on shares of Progressive in a research report on Tuesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $266.40.

Progressive Stock Performance

PGR stock opened at $234.61 on Friday. The Progressive Corporation has a one year low of $199.90 and a one year high of $292.99. The firm has a market cap of $137.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.87, a PEG ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 0.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a quick ratio of 0.29 and a current ratio of 0.29. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $224.07 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $242.97.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 15th. The insurance provider reported $4.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.04 by ($0.59). The firm had revenue of $21.38 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $21.64 billion. Progressive had a return on equity of 33.88% and a net margin of 12.57%.During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $3.58 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that The Progressive Corporation will post 14.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 8th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 2nd will be given a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 2nd. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.2%. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio is presently 2.19%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $228.48, for a total value of $1,142,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 223,024 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $50,956,523.52. This trade represents a 2.19% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Patrick K. Callahan sold 6,420 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $242.22, for a total value of $1,555,052.40. Following the transaction, the insider owned 15,192 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,679,806.24. This trade represents a 29.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 17,673 shares of company stock worth $4,163,005. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Progressive 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.