The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) Shares Sold by Donaldson Capital Management LLC

Donaldson Capital Management LLC cut its position in shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 1.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 14,907 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 260 shares during the quarter. Donaldson Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Progressive were worth $3,572,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PGR. Miller Financial Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Progressive in the fourth quarter valued at about $552,000. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI grew its stake in shares of Progressive by 13.1% in the fourth quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 16,265 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $3,897,000 after buying an additional 1,884 shares in the last quarter. Sage Mountain Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Progressive by 3.4% in the fourth quarter. Sage Mountain Advisors LLC now owns 3,225 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $773,000 after buying an additional 107 shares in the last quarter. Davis R M Inc. grew its stake in shares of Progressive by 8.7% in the fourth quarter. Davis R M Inc. now owns 1,119 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $268,000 after buying an additional 90 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Independent Advisor Alliance grew its stake in shares of Progressive by 6.5% in the fourth quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance now owns 27,750 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $6,649,000 after buying an additional 1,699 shares in the last quarter. 85.34% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Progressive Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of Progressive stock opened at $278.74 on Tuesday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $255.01 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $253.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 0.31 and a quick ratio of 0.30. The company has a market capitalization of $163.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.36, a PEG ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.35. The Progressive Co. has a 1-year low of $195.43 and a 1-year high of $287.49.

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

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.14%. Progressive’s payout ratio is currently 2.78%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on PGR. BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on Progressive from $273.00 to $267.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, December 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Progressive from $251.00 to $256.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Barclays increased their target price on Progressive from $261.00 to $264.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Progressive from $300.00 to $307.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, HSBC lowered Progressive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $267.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $276.59.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction on Monday, December 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $238.66, for a total transaction of $2,386,600.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 282,958 shares in the company, valued at approximately $67,530,756.28. This trade represents a 3.41 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Andrew J. Quigg sold 681 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction on Friday, January 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $242.10, for a total value of $164,870.10. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 33,612 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,137,465.20. This trade represents a 1.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 62,257 shares of company stock worth $15,752,781. 0.34% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.