Financial Strategies Group Inc. Reduces Stock Holdings in The Progressive Corporation $PGR

Key Points

• Financial Strategies Group Inc. has reduced its stake in The Progressive Corporation by 6.3%, owning 37,181 shares valued at approximately $10.27 million after selling 2,512 shares in the first quarter.
• Insider sales included CFO John P. Sauerland selling 16,664 shares for over $4.15 million, along with another insider Lori A. Niederst selling 8,063 shares for nearly $2.02 million, reflecting significant decreases in their ownership.
• Analysts remain optimistic, with nine rating the stock as a Buy and nine as a Hold, although several brokerages have recently lowered their target prices for Progressive's stock.

Financial Strategies Group Inc. trimmed its holdings in The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR - Free Report) by 6.3% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 37,181 shares of the insurance provider's stock after selling 2,512 shares during the quarter. Progressive comprises approximately 2.4% of Financial Strategies Group Inc.'s portfolio, making the stock its 11th biggest position. Financial Strategies Group Inc.'s holdings in Progressive were worth $10,266,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. State of Alaska Department of Revenue increased its holdings in Progressive by 2.7% in the 1st quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 68,644 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $19,426,000 after buying an additional 1,800 shares in the last quarter. Belmont Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Progressive in the first quarter worth approximately $580,000. QRG Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Progressive by 36.4% in the first quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 126,826 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $35,893,000 after buying an additional 33,864 shares during the last quarter. MEAG MUNICH ERGO Kapitalanlagegesellschaft mbH increased its holdings in Progressive by 498.5% during the first quarter. MEAG MUNICH ERGO Kapitalanlagegesellschaft mbH now owns 5,057 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $1,431,000 after buying an additional 4,212 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hennessy Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Progressive in the first quarter worth approximately $3,141,000. 85.34% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PGR has been the subject of several analyst reports. Citigroup restated a "buy" rating on shares of Progressive in a research note on Friday, August 29th. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded Progressive to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 13th. Wall Street Zen cut Progressive from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, July 18th. Barclays lowered their price objective on Progressive from $287.00 to $281.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, August 19th. Finally, Evercore ISI cut Progressive from an "outperform" rating to an "in-line" rating and set a $275.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Progressive presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $284.82.

Progressive Price Performance

Shares of Progressive stock traded up $2.91 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $246.17. 2,149,414 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,191,052. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 0.31 and a quick ratio of 0.31. The company has a market capitalization of $144.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.87, a P/E/G ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 0.32. The Progressive Corporation has a 52-week low of $228.54 and a 52-week high of $292.99. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $247.14 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $265.25.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 16th. The insurance provider reported $4.88 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.43 by $0.45. The business had revenue of $20.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $20.39 billion. Progressive had a return on equity of 35.37% and a net margin of 12.66%.The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.48 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that The Progressive Corporation will post 14.68 EPS for the current year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 2nd will be given a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 2nd. Progressive's payout ratio is currently 2.25%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Patrick K. Callahan sold 6,232 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, August 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.96, for a total value of $1,557,750.72. Following the sale, the insider owned 21,612 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,402,135.52. The trade was a 22.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Susan Patricia Griffith sold 30,659 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $246.06, for a total transaction of $7,543,953.54. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 476,286 shares in the company, valued at $117,194,933.16. This represents a 6.05% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 139,010 shares of company stock valued at $34,547,699 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.33% of the company's stock.

Progressive Company 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.