Polar Capital Holdings Plc Sells 16,136 Shares of The Progressive Corporation $PGR

Polar Capital Holdings Plc trimmed its position in shares of The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) by 3.4% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 453,000 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 16,136 shares during the quarter. Polar Capital Holdings Plc’s holdings in Progressive were worth $103,157,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Bard Associates Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Progressive in the fourth quarter worth $27,000. Dagco Inc. bought a new position in Progressive in the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. IFC & Insurance Marketing Inc. purchased a new position in Progressive in the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. Ameriflex Group Inc. boosted its position in Progressive by 106.6% in the third quarter. Ameriflex Group Inc. now owns 126 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Entrust Financial LLC bought a new stake in shares of Progressive during the 4th quarter valued at about $33,000. 85.34% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Progressive Stock Up 0.6%

PGR stock opened at $204.70 on Wednesday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $199.56 and its 200-day moving average price is $207.60. The stock has a market cap of $119.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.41, a PEG ratio of 5.90 and a beta of 0.28. The company has a quick ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 0.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The Progressive Corporation has a twelve month low of $189.20 and a twelve month high of $267.92.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 15th. The insurance provider reported $4.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $22.19 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $23.51 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $4.37 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that The Progressive Corporation will post 16.35 EPS for the current year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The company 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 $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 2nd. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.2%. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio is 2.03%.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Steven Broz sold 1,157 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $200.00, for a total transaction of $231,400.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 28,668 shares in the company, valued at $5,733,600. This trade represents a 3.88% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CAO Carl G. Joyce sold 270 shares of Progressive 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 transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 558 shares in the company, valued at approximately $115,227. This trade represents a 32.61% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 7,343 shares of company stock worth $1,470,355 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.32% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Progressive from $218.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, March 23rd. Argus upgraded shares of Progressive to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Progressive from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Evercore reiterated a “negative” rating on shares of Progressive in a research report on Wednesday, March 18th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of Progressive from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 24th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Progressive currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $238.11.

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.