Artemis Investment Management LLP Lowers Holdings in The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR)

Artemis Investment Management LLP reduced its holdings in shares of The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR - Free Report) by 15.8% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 152,238 shares of the insurance provider's stock after selling 28,473 shares during the period. Artemis Investment Management LLP's holdings in Progressive were worth $43,085,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Brighton Jones LLC raised its stake in shares of Progressive by 15.6% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 3,392 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $813,000 after acquiring an additional 457 shares in the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Progressive in the 4th quarter valued at about $269,000. Highview Capital Management LLC DE raised its position in Progressive by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. Highview Capital Management LLC DE now owns 11,040 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $2,645,000 after purchasing an additional 339 shares in the last quarter. IFP Advisors Inc boosted its stake in shares of Progressive by 11.0% in the 4th quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 4,808 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $1,152,000 after buying an additional 478 shares during the period. Finally, Lake Street Advisors Group LLC grew its position in shares of Progressive by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC now owns 6,688 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $1,602,000 after buying an additional 46 shares in the last quarter. 85.34% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Progressive news, Director Dyke Kahina Van sold 2,490 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $277.67, for a total transaction of $691,398.30. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 12,429 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,451,160.43. This represents a 16.69% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $268.59, for a total value of $2,685,900.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 248,024 shares of the company's stock, valued at $66,616,766.16. The trade was a 3.88% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 32,705 shares of company stock valued at $8,813,048. Insiders own 0.34% of the company's stock.

Progressive Trading Up 0.8%

PGR opened at $261.80 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 0.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. The Progressive Corporation has a 52 week low of $207.48 and a 52 week high of $292.99. The business's 50 day moving average is $274.49 and its two-hundred day moving average is $264.65. The firm has a market cap of $153.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 0.40.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 16th. The insurance provider reported $4.65 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $4.28 by $0.37. Progressive had a net margin of 11.10% and a return on equity of 33.50%. The business had revenue of $22.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $21.87 billion. On average, research analysts predict that The Progressive Corporation will post 14.68 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently weighed in on PGR. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Progressive from $285.00 to $291.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 28th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Progressive from $285.00 to $297.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, April 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Progressive from $267.00 to $287.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on Progressive from $282.00 to $288.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, Bank of America raised Progressive from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $312.00 price target for the company in a report on Monday, April 28th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $288.88.

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.

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