HighTower Advisors LLC Trims Holdings in The Progressive Corporation $PGR

HighTower Advisors LLC trimmed its stake in shares of The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) by 6.7% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 112,149 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 8,063 shares during the quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in Progressive were worth $24,499,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bogart Wealth LLC boosted its stake in Progressive by 235.1% in the 1st quarter. Bogart Wealth LLC now owns 124 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 87 shares during the period. IMG Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Progressive in the second quarter worth about $26,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Progressive in the second quarter worth about $26,000. Bard Associates Inc. bought a new position in shares of Progressive in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Finally, Kilter Group LLC purchased a new position in Progressive during the second quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Progressive Price Performance

Shares of Progressive stock opened at $214.67 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $124.80 billion, a PE ratio of 10.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 0.27. The company has a current ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. The Progressive Corporation has a 12 month low of $189.20 and a 12 month high of $249.71. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $217.48 and its 200-day moving average price is $207.97.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 15th. The insurance provider reported $5.67 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.64 by $1.03. The company had revenue of $23.61 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $19.49 billion. Progressive had a return on equity of 32.92% and a net margin of 12.84%.During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $5.40 EPS. Progressive’s quarterly revenue was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that The Progressive Corporation will post 17.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 9th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 1st will be paid a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 1st. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.2%. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio is 2.01%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Progressive news, CFO Andrew Quigg sold 3,499 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $220.00, for a total transaction of $769,780.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 42,595 shares in the company, valued at $9,370,900. This represents a 7.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Karen Bailo sold 8,452 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $212.71, for a total value of $1,797,824.92. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 32,348 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,880,743.08. This represents a 20.72% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 113,714 shares of company stock valued at $24,466,294 over the last three months. 0.32% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald decreased their target price on shares of Progressive from $220.00 to $200.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 17th. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $228.00 price target on shares of Progressive in a report on Wednesday, August 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on Progressive from $250.00 to $241.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, August 4th. HSBC boosted their target price on Progressive from $214.00 to $221.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, July 6th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised Progressive from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Friday, August 28th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $236.26.

Progressive Profile

Progressive Corporation, founded in 1937 and headquartered in Mayfield Village, Ohio, is an insurance company that primarily serves customers in the United States. The company is best known for its personal and commercial auto insurance businesses and distributes products through independent agents, direct channels and digital platforms.

Progressive offers a broad range of insurance products, including coverage for automobiles, motorcycles, boats, recreational vehicles, homes and renters.