Everpar Advisors LLC Trims Stake in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Everpar Advisors LLC lessened its position in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 9.4% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 2,140 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 223 shares during the quarter. Everpar Advisors LLC’s holdings in Progressive were worth $513,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Progressive by 13.2% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,425,792 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $3,652,235,000 after buying an additional 1,682,213 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC grew its holdings in Progressive by 21.6% in the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 4,749,628 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,205,266,000 after purchasing an additional 842,109 shares during the period. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec grew its holdings in Progressive by 75.3% in the third 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 period. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Progressive by 29,701.6% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 596,331 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $151,325,000 after purchasing an additional 594,330 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its position in shares of Progressive by 206.8% in the 3rd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 875,660 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $222,207,000 after purchasing an additional 590,235 shares in the last quarter. 85.34% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Progressive Stock Up 1.3 %

PGR stock opened at $245.57 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $143.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.85, a P/E/G ratio of 0.61 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a current ratio of 0.30. The business’s 50-day moving average is $250.72 and its two-hundred day moving average is $242.01. The Progressive Co. has a fifty-two week low of $166.92 and a fifty-two week high of $270.62.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 15th. The insurance provider reported $3.58 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.40 by $0.18. The firm had revenue of $19.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $18.95 billion. Progressive had a net margin of 11.27% and a return on equity of 33.10%. As a group, analysts forecast that The Progressive Co. will post 13.52 earnings per share for the current year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 16th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 9th were issued a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.16%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio is 2.91%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PGR has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on Progressive from $273.00 to $267.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, December 16th. HSBC lowered Progressive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $267.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. StockNews.com raised shares of Progressive from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Raymond James raised shares of Progressive from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $305.00 target price for the company in a report on Thursday, December 26th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their target price on shares of Progressive from $295.00 to $294.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Progressive currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $275.24.

Insider Transactions at Progressive

In related news, CAO Mariann Wojtkun Marshall sold 191 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $242.10, for a total transaction of $46,241.10. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 3,982 shares in the company, valued at approximately $964,042.20. This trade represents a 4.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Susan Patricia Griffith sold 9,066 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $242.10, for a total value of $2,194,878.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 473,736 shares in the company, valued at approximately $114,691,485.60. This represents a 1.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 32,919 shares of company stock valued at $8,222,168 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

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.