Patten & Patten Inc. TN Sells 6,281 Shares of The Progressive Corporation $PGR

Key Points

• Patten & Patten Inc. TN trimmed its Progressive stake by 4.3% in the fourth quarter, selling 6,281 shares and leaving it with 138,530 shares worth about $31.5 million.
• Progressive’s latest earnings topped expectations, with EPS of $4.80 versus the $4.67 consensus, though quarterly revenue of $22.19 billion came in below estimates.
• Wall Street remains cautious overall: analysts currently rate PGR a Hold on average, with a consensus price target of $238.39.

Patten & Patten Inc. TN decreased its position in shares of The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR - Free Report) by 4.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 138,530 shares of the insurance provider's stock after selling 6,281 shares during the period. Progressive comprises 1.9% of Patten & Patten Inc. TN's investment portfolio, making the stock its 9th biggest position. Patten & Patten Inc. TN's holdings in Progressive were worth $31,546,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Dagco Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Progressive in the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Ameriflex Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Progressive by 106.6% in the 3rd quarter. Ameriflex Group Inc. now owns 126 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 65 shares during the period. Bangor Savings Bank boosted its stake in shares of Progressive by 60.4% in the 4th quarter. Bangor Savings Bank now owns 154 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 58 shares during the period. Riverview Trust Co boosted its stake in shares of Progressive by 48.6% in the 4th quarter. Riverview Trust Co now owns 162 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 53 shares during the period. Finally, Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Progressive by 833.3% in the 4th quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. now owns 168 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 150 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.34% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PGR has been the subject of several recent research reports. Piper Sandler reiterated an "overweight" rating and issued a $259.00 price objective on shares of Progressive in a research note on Monday, March 2nd. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Progressive from $205.00 to $190.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 31st. Weiss Ratings cut Progressive from a "hold (c+)" rating to a "hold (c)" rating in a research note on Wednesday. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Progressive from $218.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, March 23rd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price objective on Progressive from $216.00 to $215.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 24th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $238.39.

Progressive Price Performance

Shares of NYSE PGR opened at $193.85 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 0.35 and a current ratio of 0.27. The Progressive Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $191.75 and a fifty-two week high of $289.96. The firm has a market capitalization of $113.27 billion, a PE ratio of 9.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.66 and a beta of 0.31. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $202.73 and its 200-day simple moving average is $211.43.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results 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 return on equity of 33.47% and a net margin of 12.92%.The business had revenue of $22.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $23.51 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $4.37 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 6.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that The Progressive Corporation will post 16.39 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 2nd were paid a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 2nd. Progressive's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 2.03%.

Insider Transactions at Progressive

In related news, insider Maribel Pumarejo sold 739 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $203.25, for a total transaction of $150,201.75. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Carl G. Joyce sold 270 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $206.50, for a total value of $55,755.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 558 shares in the company, valued at $115,227. This represents a 32.61% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 6,933 shares of company stock worth $1,441,564. 0.32% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.

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