Phoenix Financial Ltd. Reduces Holdings in The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR)

Key Points

• Phoenix Financial Ltd. reduced its stake in Progressive Corporation by 18.5%, now holding 44,873 shares valued at approximately $12.71 million.
• Insider transactions included significant stock sales by Director Dyke Kahina Van and CFO John P. Sauerland, indicating a decrease in their ownership positions of 16.69% and 4.03% respectively.
• Progressive recently reported quarterly earnings of $4.88 per share, exceeding estimates, and announced a dividend of $0.10 per share, reflecting a yield of 0.15%.

Phoenix Financial Ltd. lessened its holdings in The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR - Free Report) by 18.5% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 44,873 shares of the insurance provider's stock after selling 10,182 shares during the period. Phoenix Financial Ltd.'s holdings in Progressive were worth $12,708,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Integrated Advisors Network LLC increased its stake in Progressive by 1.0% during the 1st quarter. Integrated Advisors Network LLC now owns 3,808 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $1,078,000 after buying an additional 36 shares in the last quarter. Pines Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Progressive by 3.0% during the 1st quarter. Pines Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,287 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $335,000 after buying an additional 37 shares in the last quarter. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Progressive by 2.0% during the 1st quarter. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,940 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $549,000 after buying an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Beacon Financial Group increased its stake in Progressive by 1.1% during the 1st quarter. Beacon Financial Group now owns 3,659 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $1,036,000 after buying an additional 39 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kesler Norman & Wride LLC increased its stake in Progressive by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Kesler Norman & Wride LLC now owns 3,695 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $885,000 after buying an additional 40 shares in the last quarter. 85.34% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have commented on PGR. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Progressive from $328.00 to $333.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, June 20th. UBS Group dropped their price target on Progressive from $280.00 to $268.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, July 21st. Wall Street Zen lowered Progressive from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, July 18th. Barclays dropped their price target on Progressive from $297.00 to $287.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, July 7th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on Progressive from $288.00 to $281.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, July 18th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $286.88.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, June 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $263.79, for a total value of $2,637,900.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 228,024 shares in the company, valued at approximately $60,150,450.96. This trade represents a 4.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Steven Broz sold 1,267 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, July 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $247.54, for a total value of $313,633.18. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 26,354 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,523,669.16. The trade was a 4.59% 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 valued at $9,078,681. 0.33% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Progressive Trading Up 0.2%

NYSE:PGR traded up $0.40 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $241.37. 1,785,267 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,262,091. The company has a quick ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 0.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. The business has a 50-day moving average of $263.30 and a two-hundred day moving average of $266.31. The Progressive Corporation has a twelve month low of $208.13 and a twelve month high of $292.99. The company has a market capitalization of $141.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.59, a PEG ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 0.37.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 16th. The insurance provider reported $4.88 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $4.43 by $0.45. Progressive had a return on equity of 35.37% and a net margin of 12.66%. The company had revenue of $20.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $20.39 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.48 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that The Progressive Corporation will post 14.68 EPS for the current year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared 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. This represents a yield of 0.15%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 3rd. Progressive's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 2.25%.

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.