The Progressive Corporation $PGR Shares Sold by Range Financial Group LLC

Range Financial Group LLC lessened its stake in The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) by 86.9% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 1,400 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 9,282 shares during the period. Range Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Progressive were worth $346,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Progressive in the second quarter valued at approximately $2,156,939,000. Alliancebernstein L.P. increased its holdings in shares of Progressive by 32.8% during the 2nd quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 10,972,574 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,928,141,000 after purchasing an additional 2,709,417 shares in the last quarter. Axiom Investors LLC DE purchased a new position in shares of Progressive during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $194,557,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 493,332 shares during the period. Finally, Temasek Holdings Private Ltd purchased a new stake in Progressive during the second quarter worth $117,057,000. 85.34% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have weighed in on PGR. Bank of America cut their price objective on shares of Progressive from $350.00 to $348.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, December 9th. HSBC set a $259.00 target price on Progressive and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research report on Monday, November 17th. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Progressive in a report on Wednesday, December 17th. Barclays dropped their price objective on Progressive from $271.00 to $257.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, October 20th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “underweight” rating on shares of Progressive in a research note on Wednesday, December 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Progressive has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $264.98.

Insider Transactions at Progressive

In other Progressive news, insider Steven Broz sold 1,344 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $224.80, for a total transaction of $302,131.20. Following the transaction, the insider owned 26,354 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,924,379.20. The trade was a 4.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 28th. The shares were 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 approximately $50,956,523.52. The trade was a 2.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last quarter, insiders sold 9,034 shares of company stock valued at $2,047,481. 0.33% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Progressive Stock Up 0.5%

Shares of PGR opened at $228.31 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $222.69 and a 200 day moving average price of $238.70. The Progressive Corporation has a one year low of $199.90 and a one year high of $292.99. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $133.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.52, a PEG ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 0.36.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 15th. The insurance provider reported $4.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $5.04 by ($0.59). Progressive had a return on equity of 33.88% and a net margin of 12.57%.The business had revenue of $21.38 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $21.64 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.58 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that The Progressive Corporation will post 14.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

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

Progressive Profile

Progressive Corporation is a large U.S.-based property and casualty insurer that primarily underwrites personal auto insurance along with a broad suite of related products. Its offerings include coverage for private passenger automobiles, commercial auto fleets, motorcycles, boats and recreational vehicles, as well as homeowners, renters, umbrella and other specialty P&C products. Progressive also provides claims handling, risk management and related services to individual and commercial policyholders.

The company distributes its products through a mix of direct channels—online and by phone—and an extensive independent agent network.