The Progressive Corporation $PGR Shares Sold by HighTower Advisors LLC

Key Points

• HighTower Advisors LLC cut its stake in Progressive by 12.9% in the fourth quarter, selling 16,962 shares and leaving it with 114,920 shares worth about $26.17 million.
• Progressive reported better-than-expected quarterly EPS of $4.80 versus estimates of $4.67, though revenue of $22.19 billion came in below Wall Street expectations.
• Analysts currently have a Hold consensus on PGR, with an average price target of $238.11; the stock recently traded around $199.28 and the company also announced a quarterly dividend of $0.10 per share.

HighTower Advisors LLC lowered its holdings in shares of The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR - Free Report) by 12.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 114,920 shares of the insurance provider's stock after selling 16,962 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC's holdings in Progressive were worth $26,170,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Dagco Inc. acquired a new position in Progressive during the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. Ameriflex Group Inc. raised its position in Progressive by 106.6% during the third quarter. Ameriflex Group Inc. now owns 126 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. Entrust Financial LLC acquired a new position in Progressive during the fourth quarter worth about $33,000. Bangor Savings Bank raised its position in Progressive by 60.4% during the fourth quarter. Bangor Savings Bank now owns 154 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Riverview Trust Co raised its position in Progressive by 48.6% during the fourth quarter. Riverview Trust Co now owns 162 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $37,000 after acquiring an additional 53 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.34% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Progressive

In other news, insider Maribel Pumarejo sold 739 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $203.25, for a total transaction of $150,201.75. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Carl G. Joyce sold 270 shares of the business's stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 558 shares of the company's stock, valued at $115,227. This represents a 32.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 6,933 shares of company stock valued at $1,441,564 over the last quarter. 0.32% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Roth Mkm set a $235.00 target price on shares of Progressive in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of Progressive from $300.60 to $261.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 3rd. Bank of America reduced their price objective on shares of Progressive from $325.00 to $320.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Piper Sandler reissued an "overweight" rating and set a $259.00 price objective on shares of Progressive in a research note on Monday, March 2nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Progressive from $218.00 to $222.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $238.11.

Progressive Stock Performance

Shares of PGR opened at $199.28 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 0.27 and a current ratio of 0.27. The company has a market capitalization of $116.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.13, a PEG ratio of 7.28 and a beta of 0.31. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $200.46 and its 200 day simple moving average is $210.22. The Progressive Corporation has a 1 year low of $191.75 and a 1 year high of $289.96.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 15th. The insurance provider reported $4.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $23.51 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $4.37 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 6.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that The Progressive Corporation will post 16.37 EPS for the current year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 2nd will be paid a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 2nd. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.2%. Progressive's payout ratio is currently 2.03%.

Progressive Company Profile

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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