The Progressive Corporation $PGR Shares Sold by Blair William & Co. IL

Key Points

• Blair William & Co. IL has reduced its holdings in The Progressive Corporation by 1.2%, owning approximately $401.7 million in shares, which places it as the 15th largest position in their portfolio.
• Insiders have recently sold significant amounts of stock, with John Jo Murphy selling 2,218 shares and Patrick K. Callahan selling 6,420 shares, reflecting a decline in their ownership stakes.
• Analysts have adjusted price targets for Progressive, with Jefferies Financial Group lowering its target from $309 to $287 while Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "buy" rating on the stock.

Blair William & Co. IL decreased its holdings in The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR - Free Report) by 1.2% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 1,505,421 shares of the insurance provider's stock after selling 17,637 shares during the period. Progressive makes up about 1.1% of Blair William & Co. IL's investment portfolio, making the stock its 15th largest position. Blair William & Co. IL owned 0.26% of Progressive worth $401,737,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Baron Silver Stevens Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Progressive during the second quarter worth about $306,000. State of Alaska Department of Revenue boosted its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $19,426,000 after buying an additional 1,800 shares during the period. Trust Co. of Oklahoma bought a new position in Progressive during the 2nd quarter worth $439,000. Belmont Capital LLC bought a new stake in Progressive in the 1st quarter valued at about $580,000. Finally, Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI grew its holdings in Progressive by 87.9% in the 1st quarter. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI now owns 414,183 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $117,218,000 after buying an additional 193,800 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.34% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Progressive news, insider John Jo Murphy sold 2,218 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $242.10, for a total value of $536,977.80. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 43,506 shares in the company, valued at $10,532,802.60. This represents a 4.85% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Patrick K. Callahan sold 6,420 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, September 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $242.22, for a total transaction of $1,555,052.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 15,192 shares in the company, valued at $3,679,806.24. This trade represents a 29.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 130,045 shares of company stock worth $31,997,390. Insiders own 0.34% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on PGR. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price objective on Progressive from $309.00 to $287.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Monday, August 11th. Wolfe Research started coverage on Progressive in a research report on Monday, September 15th. They set a "peer perform" rating for the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on shares of Progressive from $268.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, September 18th. Weiss Ratings restated a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Progressive in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of Progressive from $268.00 to $261.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $278.63.

Progressive Stock Performance

Progressive stock opened at $243.07 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $142.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.32. The Progressive Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $228.54 and a fifty-two week high of $292.99. 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 firm's 50 day simple moving average is $245.21 and its 200-day simple moving average is $260.20.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR - Get Free Report) last posted 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. Progressive had a return on equity of 35.37% and a net margin of 12.66%.The firm had revenue of $20.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $20.39 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.48 earnings per share. Progressive's quarterly revenue was up 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that The Progressive Corporation will post 14.68 EPS for the current year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 2nd will be given a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 2nd. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.2%. Progressive's dividend payout ratio is presently 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.

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