Sentry Investment Management LLC Trims Stake in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Sentry Investment Management LLC reduced its position in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 9.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 3,069 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 330 shares during the quarter. Sentry Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Progressive were worth $489,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PGR. Markel Corp raised its position in Progressive by 4.1% in the 1st quarter. Markel Corp now owns 750,750 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $85,578,000 after purchasing an additional 29,750 shares during the period. Roundview Capital LLC increased its position in shares of Progressive by 0.8% during the first quarter. Roundview Capital LLC now owns 49,086 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $5,595,000 after acquiring an additional 381 shares during the period. Cibc World Market Inc. increased its position in shares of Progressive by 3.9% during the first quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. now owns 6,693 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $763,000 after acquiring an additional 254 shares during the period. Moors & Cabot Inc. increased its position in shares of Progressive by 8.0% during the first quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 3,081 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $351,000 after acquiring an additional 228 shares during the period. Finally, Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Progressive by 103.5% during the first quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 7,022 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $800,000 after acquiring an additional 3,571 shares during the period. 85.34% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Susan Patricia Griffith sold 5,939 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $169.24, for a total transaction of $1,005,116.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 465,737 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $78,821,329.88. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Progressive news, insider Andrew J. Quigg sold 551 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $169.24, for a total value of $93,251.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 27,921 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,725,350.04. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Susan Patricia Griffith sold 5,939 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $169.24, for a total transaction of $1,005,116.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 465,737 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $78,821,329.88. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 44,629 shares of company stock valued at $8,348,176 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on PGR shares. HSBC raised their target price on shares of Progressive from $174.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 28th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Progressive from $232.00 to $238.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of Progressive from $161.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, March 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Progressive from $171.00 to $202.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on shares of Progressive from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Progressive has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $208.31.

Progressive Price Performance

Shares of PGR opened at $207.02 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $121.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 0.35. The Progressive Co. has a twelve month low of $111.41 and a twelve month high of $212.24. The company has a quick ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The company has a 50 day moving average of $197.64 and a two-hundred day moving average of $173.59.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 12th. The insurance provider reported $3.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.20 by $0.74. The business had revenue of $18.96 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.88 billion. Progressive had a net margin of 8.89% and a return on equity of 29.43%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 17.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.65 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that The Progressive Co. will post 10.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 4th were issued a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, April 3rd. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.19%. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio is currently 4.09%.

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.