Marks Group Wealth Management Inc Cuts Stock Position in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Marks Group Wealth Management Inc cut its position in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 3.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,693 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 63 shares during the quarter. Marks Group Wealth Management Inc’s holdings in Progressive were worth $270,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in shares of Progressive by 14.1% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 21,554,503 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $3,002,542,000 after purchasing an additional 2,666,449 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in Progressive by 10.5% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 6,916,460 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $963,463,000 after acquiring an additional 655,706 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in Progressive by 2.8% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 5,982,841 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $833,410,000 after acquiring an additional 162,916 shares during the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG increased its stake in Progressive by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 5,641,166 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $785,814,000 after acquiring an additional 156,332 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in Progressive by 31.8% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,781,075 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $666,004,000 after acquiring an additional 1,154,591 shares during the last quarter. 85.34% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Citigroup upped their target price on Progressive from $202.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, April 15th. UBS Group upped their price objective on Progressive from $216.00 to $218.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. HSBC upped their price objective on Progressive from $174.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, March 28th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on Progressive from $241.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 15th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Progressive from $171.00 to $202.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Progressive currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $211.88.

Progressive Trading Up 0.5 %

PGR opened at $214.02 on Wednesday. The Progressive Co. has a one year low of $111.41 and a one year high of $216.21. The firm has a market capitalization of $125.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.91, a PEG ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 0.35. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $201.17 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $176.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 0.36 and a quick ratio of 0.31.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last announced its earnings results on Friday, April 12th. The insurance provider reported $3.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.20 by $0.74. Progressive had a return on equity of 29.43% and a net margin of 8.89%. The firm had revenue of $18.96 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.88 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.65 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 17.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that The Progressive Co. will post 11.22 EPS for the current year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 4th were paid a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, April 3rd. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.19%. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 4.09%.

Insider Transactions at Progressive

In other news, Director Devin C. Johnson sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.33, for a total value of $208,330.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 7,176 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,494,976.08. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In related news, Director Devin C. Johnson sold 1,000 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.33, for a total transaction of $208,330.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 7,176 shares in the company, valued at $1,494,976.08. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Patrick K. Callahan sold 29,675 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.26, for a total value of $5,645,965.50. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 15,189 shares in the company, valued at $2,889,859.14. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 39,139 shares of company stock worth $7,458,139 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

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.