Generali Investments Management Co LLC Decreases Position in The Progressive Corporation $PGR

Key Points

• Generali Investments cut its position in The Progressive Corporation by 93.5% in Q4, selling 6,470 shares and leaving 451 shares valued at about $103,000.
• Insiders sold a total of 6,933 shares (~$1.44M) last quarter while institutional investors own about 85.34% of the stock and insiders hold just 0.32%.
• Analysts show mixed sentiment with a consensus "Hold" and an average price target of $238.39; Progressive reported quarterly EPS of $4.80 (beating estimates) but revenue of $22.19B (missing expectations).

Generali Investments Management Co LLC cut its position in The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR - Free Report) by 93.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 451 shares of the insurance provider's stock after selling 6,470 shares during the period. Generali Investments Management Co LLC's holdings in Progressive were worth $103,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund lifted its position in Progressive by 30.2% during the 3rd quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 102,778 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $25,381,000 after acquiring an additional 23,833 shares during the last quarter. Allstate Corp lifted its position in Progressive by 1,614.1% during the 3rd quarter. Allstate Corp now owns 21,598 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $5,334,000 after acquiring an additional 20,338 shares during the last quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC lifted its position in Progressive by 91.7% during the 3rd quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC now owns 11,710 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $2,892,000 after acquiring an additional 5,600 shares during the last quarter. Mather Group LLC. lifted its position in Progressive by 40.6% during the 3rd quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 16,840 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $4,159,000 after acquiring an additional 4,865 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Arkadios Wealth Advisors increased its holdings in shares of Progressive by 471.3% during the 3rd quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors now owns 22,496 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $5,556,000 after purchasing an additional 18,558 shares during the period. 85.34% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PGR has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of Progressive from $205.00 to $190.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 31st. Piper Sandler reissued an "overweight" rating and issued a $259.00 price objective on shares of Progressive in a research note on Monday, March 2nd. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Progressive from $218.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, March 23rd. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of Progressive from $208.00 to $221.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a report on Thursday, April 16th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group restated a "buy" rating and issued a $225.00 price objective on shares of Progressive in a report on Monday, February 23rd. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Progressive currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $238.39.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Maribel Pumarejo sold 739 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $203.25, for a total value of $150,201.75. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Carl G. Joyce sold 270 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $206.50, for a total transaction of $55,755.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 558 shares of the company's stock, valued at $115,227. The trade was a 32.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 6,933 shares of company stock valued at $1,441,564 over the last quarter. 0.32% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Progressive Price Performance

Shares of Progressive stock opened at $200.62 on Friday. The Progressive Corporation has a twelve month low of $192.02 and a twelve month high of $289.96. The company has a quick ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 0.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $203.38 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $213.29. The stock has a market capitalization of $117.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.77 and a beta of 0.34.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 15th. The insurance provider reported $4.80 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.67 by $0.13. Progressive had a net margin of 12.92% and a return on equity of 33.47%. The business had revenue of $22.19 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $23.51 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $4.37 EPS. The business's revenue was up 6.5% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that The Progressive Corporation will post 16.39 EPS for the current year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 2nd were given a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 2nd. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.2%. Progressive's payout ratio is presently 2.03%.

About Progressive

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.