Ethic Inc. Sells 5,738 Shares of The Progressive Corporation $PGR

Key Points

• Ethic Inc. reduced its stake in The Progressive Corporation by 7.4%, selling 5,738 shares during the second quarter, leaving it with 72,016 shares valued at approximately $19 million.
• Insider sales include Patrick K. Callahan selling 6,420 shares and John Jo Murphy selling 2,218 shares, indicating a decrease in their ownership by 29.71% and 4.85%, respectively.
• Progressive's recent earnings report showed $4.45 earnings per share, missing expectations, with a revenue of $21.38 billion for the quarter, contrasted against analyst expectations of $21.64 billion.

Ethic Inc. lowered its stake in The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR - Free Report) by 7.4% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 72,016 shares of the insurance provider's stock after selling 5,738 shares during the quarter. Ethic Inc.'s holdings in Progressive were worth $19,011,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Progressive in the 1st quarter worth about $1,473,180,000. GQG Partners LLC grew its stake in Progressive by 61.4% in the first quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 8,346,133 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $2,362,039,000 after purchasing an additional 3,174,632 shares during the period. C WorldWide Group Holding A S raised its holdings in Progressive by 12,110.3% in the first quarter. C WorldWide Group Holding A S now owns 1,248,628 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $353,374,000 after purchasing an additional 1,238,402 shares in the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. lifted its position in Progressive by 15.2% during the first quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 8,263,157 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $2,338,556,000 after buying an additional 1,091,828 shares during the period. Finally, Axiom Investors LLC DE bought a new stake in shares of Progressive during the 1st quarter valued at $194,557,000. Institutional investors own 85.34% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In other Progressive news, insider Patrick K. Callahan sold 6,420 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $242.22, for a total value of $1,555,052.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 15,192 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,679,806.24. The trade was a 29.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider John Jo Murphy sold 2,218 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $242.10, for a total transaction of $536,977.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 43,506 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,532,802.60. The trade was a 4.85% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 128,778 shares of company stock worth $31,683,756 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.33% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of Progressive from $266.00 to $246.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 16th. Evercore ISI cut their price target on shares of Progressive from $275.00 to $273.00 and set an "in-line" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 1st. UBS Group lowered their price objective on Progressive from $268.00 to $261.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Progressive from $301.00 to $303.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 9th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded Progressive from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Sunday, September 21st. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Progressive presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $270.40.

Progressive Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:PGR opened at $221.89 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a current ratio of 0.32 and a quick ratio of 0.31. The Progressive Corporation has a 1-year low of $217.20 and a 1-year high of $292.99. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $242.81 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $257.18. The company has a market capitalization of $130.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.16, a P/E/G ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.32.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 15th. The insurance provider reported $4.45 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $5.04 by ($0.59). Progressive had a net margin of 12.57% and a return on equity of 33.88%. The company had revenue of $21.38 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $21.64 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $3.58 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that The Progressive Corporation will post 14.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 2nd were given a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 2nd. Progressive's payout ratio is 2.19%.

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.

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