The Progressive Corporation $PGR Shares Sold by Valeo Financial Advisors LLC

Valeo Financial Advisors LLC decreased its holdings in The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) by 2.5% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 3,824 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 98 shares during the period. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in Progressive were worth $1,020,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Baron Silver Stevens Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Progressive during the second quarter worth $306,000. State of Alaska Department of Revenue lifted its stake in shares of Progressive by 2.7% during the first quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 68,644 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $19,426,000 after buying an additional 1,800 shares during the period. Trust Co. of Oklahoma acquired a new stake in shares of Progressive during the second quarter worth $439,000. Belmont Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Progressive during the first quarter worth $580,000. Finally, Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI lifted its stake in shares of Progressive by 87.9% during the first quarter. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI now owns 414,183 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $117,218,000 after buying an additional 193,800 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PGR has been the subject of several research reports. BMO Capital Markets set a $252.00 price objective on shares of Progressive in a research note on Thursday, September 18th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Progressive in a research note on Saturday, September 27th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Progressive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, September 21st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on shares of Progressive from $268.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 18th. Finally, Evercore ISI lowered their price objective on shares of Progressive from $275.00 to $273.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 1st. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $279.63.

Progressive Trading Up 1.4%

NYSE PGR opened at $243.77 on Wednesday. The Progressive Corporation has a 1 year low of $228.54 and a 1 year high of $292.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 0.31 and a quick ratio of 0.31. The company has a fifty day moving average of $245.18 and a 200 day moving average of $260.32. The company has a market capitalization of $142.90 billion, a PE ratio of 13.73, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 0.32.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 16th. The insurance provider reported $4.88 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.43 by $0.45. Progressive had a net margin of 12.66% and a return on equity of 35.37%. The company had revenue of $20.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $20.39 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.48 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that The Progressive Corporation will post 14.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 2nd will be issued a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 2nd. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.2%. Progressive’s payout ratio is presently 2.25%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Progressive news, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 16,664 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction on Monday, July 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.24, for a total value of $4,153,335.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 228,024 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $56,832,701.76. The trade was a 6.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Susan Patricia Griffith sold 30,660 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction on Monday, July 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $242.12, for a total transaction of $7,423,399.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 506,945 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $122,741,523.40. The trade was a 5.70% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 130,045 shares of company stock valued at $31,997,390 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

About Progressive

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.