Lion Street Advisors LLC Reduces Stock Position in The Progressive Corporation $PGR

Lion Street Advisors LLC lessened its stake in shares of The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) by 11.5% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,675 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 349 shares during the quarter. Lion Street Advisors LLC’s holdings in Progressive were worth $714,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Progressive by 1.2% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 54,022,956 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $15,289,037,000 after buying an additional 622,590 shares during the last quarter. GQG Partners LLC boosted its stake in Progressive by 61.4% in the 1st quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 8,346,133 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,362,039,000 after buying an additional 3,174,632 shares during the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. boosted its stake in Progressive by 15.2% in the 1st quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 8,263,157 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,338,556,000 after buying an additional 1,091,828 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC boosted its stake in Progressive by 6.6% in the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 6,380,134 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,805,642,000 after buying an additional 396,567 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in Progressive in the 1st quarter worth about $1,473,180,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Progressive Stock Performance

Progressive stock opened at $240.18 on Monday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $245.20 and its 200 day moving average price is $259.54. The firm has a market capitalization of $140.80 billion, a PE ratio of 13.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 0.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 0.31 and a current ratio of 0.31. The Progressive Corporation has a one year low of $228.54 and a one year high of $292.99.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 16th. The insurance provider reported $4.88 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.43 by $0.45. The firm had revenue of $20.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $20.39 billion. Progressive had a return on equity of 35.37% and a net margin of 12.66%.Progressive’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.48 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that The Progressive Corporation will post 14.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 2nd were given a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 2nd. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.2%. Progressive’s payout ratio is 2.25%.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Karen Bailo sold 8,922 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.24, for a total transaction of $2,223,719.28. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 32,346 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,061,917.04. The trade was a 21.62% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Patrick K. Callahan sold 6,420 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $242.22, for a total value of $1,555,052.40. Following 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. Insiders sold a total of 130,045 shares of company stock worth $31,997,390 in the last ninety days. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have issued reports on PGR shares. Wall Street Zen lowered Progressive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, September 21st. Barclays set a $271.00 price target on Progressive in a research note on Wednesday. Cantor Fitzgerald raised Progressive to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 13th. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on Progressive in a research note on Monday, September 15th. They issued a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Progressive from $265.00 to $266.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $279.63.

Progressive 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.