Inspire Advisors LLC Sells 1,011 Shares of The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR)

Key Points

• Inspire Advisors LLC reduced its stake in The Progressive Corporation by 33.5%, selling 1,011 shares, which leaves the fund with holdings worth approximately $567,000.
• Progressive's stock has seen various price target adjustments from analysts, with JPMorgan raising its target from $267 to $287, while Morgan Stanley reduced it from $290 to $280.
• For the most recent quarter, Progressive reported $4.88 earnings per share, exceeding estimates, and a revenue of $20.08 billion, which was slightly below analyst expectations of $20.39 billion.

Inspire Advisors LLC cut its holdings in The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR - Free Report) by 33.5% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 2,005 shares of the insurance provider's stock after selling 1,011 shares during the quarter. Inspire Advisors LLC's holdings in Progressive were worth $567,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. State of Alaska Department of Revenue boosted its position in Progressive by 2.7% during the 1st quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 68,644 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $19,426,000 after acquiring an additional 1,800 shares in the last quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in Progressive by 36.4% during the 1st quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 126,826 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $35,893,000 after acquiring an additional 33,864 shares in the last quarter. MEAG MUNICH ERGO Kapitalanlagegesellschaft mbH boosted its position in Progressive by 498.5% during the 1st quarter. MEAG MUNICH ERGO Kapitalanlagegesellschaft mbH now owns 5,057 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $1,431,000 after acquiring an additional 4,212 shares in the last quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Progressive during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $3,141,000. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott LLC boosted its position in Progressive by 16.5% during the 1st quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 93,463 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $26,451,000 after acquiring an additional 13,231 shares in the last quarter. 85.34% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PGR has been the topic of several research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Progressive from $267.00 to $287.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of Progressive from $290.00 to $280.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 14th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their target price on shares of Progressive from $290.00 to $268.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 17th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Progressive from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, July 18th. Finally, Evercore ISI lowered shares of Progressive from an "outperform" rating to an "in-line" rating and set a $275.00 target price for the company. in a report on Thursday, July 17th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $286.88.

Progressive Price Performance

Shares of NYSE PGR opened at $250.22 on Monday. The Progressive Corporation has a twelve month low of $208.13 and a twelve month high of $292.99. The firm has a market cap of $146.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.10, a PEG ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 0.37. The company has a 50 day moving average of $264.25 and a 200 day moving average of $266.28. The company has a quick ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 0.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 16th. The insurance provider reported $4.88 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $4.43 by $0.45. The business had revenue of $20.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $20.39 billion. Progressive had a net margin of 12.66% and a return on equity of 35.37%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.48 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that The Progressive Corporation will post 14.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 11th. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 4th were paid a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 3rd. This represents a yield of 0.15%. Progressive's dividend payout ratio is presently 2.25%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Progressive

In other Progressive news, Director Dyke Kahina Van sold 2,490 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $277.67, for a total transaction of $691,398.30. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 12,429 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,451,160.43. The trade was a 16.69% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, June 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $263.79, for a total transaction of $2,637,900.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 228,024 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $60,150,450.96. This represents a 4.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 33,972 shares of company stock worth $9,078,681. 0.33% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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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