EP Wealth Advisors LLC Sells 169 Shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

EP Wealth Advisors LLC decreased its stake in shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 6.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 2,275 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 169 shares during the quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Progressive were worth $545,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Progressive in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,843,045,000. GQG Partners LLC increased its stake in Progressive by 67.6% in the fourth quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 5,171,501 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,239,143,000 after acquiring an additional 2,085,833 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Progressive in the fourth quarter valued at about $408,416,000. Capital Research Global Investors increased its stake in Progressive by 34.3% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 6,058,187 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,451,602,000 after acquiring an additional 1,547,677 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in Progressive by 13.0% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 6,179,529 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,480,677,000 after acquiring an additional 710,684 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PGR has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their target price on shares of Progressive from $327.00 to $319.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Roth Mkm upped their target price on shares of Progressive from $290.00 to $315.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Progressive from $285.00 to $297.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 11th. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Progressive from $275.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, March 14th. Finally, Bank of America raised shares of Progressive from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $312.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $287.65.

Insider Activity at Progressive

In other news, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $279.94, for a total transaction of $2,799,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 269,566 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $75,462,306.04. This represents a 3.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Carl G. Joyce sold 360 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $276.17, for a total transaction of $99,421.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 655 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $180,891.35. This trade represents a 35.47% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 39,894 shares of company stock worth $11,020,097 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Progressive Trading Up 0.1%

Shares of NYSE PGR opened at $284.33 on Monday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $275.16 and its 200 day simple moving average is $260.46. The Progressive Co. has a fifty-two week low of $201.34 and a fifty-two week high of $292.99. The firm has a market capitalization of $166.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.75, a P/E/G ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 0.31 and a quick ratio of 0.30.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 16th. The insurance provider reported $4.65 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.28 by $0.37. Progressive had a net margin of 11.25% and a return on equity of 33.79%. The business had revenue of $22.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $21.87 billion. On average, analysts predict that The Progressive Co. will post 14.68 EPS for the current year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 3rd were issued a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 3rd. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.14%. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio is currently 2.70%.

About Progressive

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.