Fenimore Asset Management Inc Sells 2,602 Shares of The Progressive Corporation $PGR

Fenimore Asset Management Inc cut its position in The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) by 0.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 559,360 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 2,602 shares during the quarter. Progressive accounts for about 3.0% of Fenimore Asset Management Inc’s holdings, making the stock its 12th biggest holding. Fenimore Asset Management Inc owned about 0.10% of Progressive worth $149,271,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in Progressive during the 1st quarter worth approximately $1,473,180,000. GQG Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Progressive by 61.4% during the first quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 8,346,133 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,362,039,000 after purchasing an additional 3,174,632 shares during the period. C WorldWide Group Holding A S grew its stake in shares of Progressive by 12,110.3% in the first quarter. C WorldWide Group Holding A S now owns 1,248,628 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $353,374,000 after purchasing an additional 1,238,402 shares during the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. increased its holdings in Progressive by 15.2% in the first quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 8,263,157 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,338,556,000 after purchasing an additional 1,091,828 shares during the period. Finally, Axiom Investors LLC DE bought a new position in Progressive during the 1st quarter worth $194,557,000. 85.34% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PGR has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Wall Street Zen lowered Progressive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, September 21st. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Progressive in a report on Saturday, September 27th. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded shares of Progressive to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 13th. Citigroup restated a “buy” rating on shares of Progressive in a research report on Friday, August 29th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an “equal weight” rating and set a $265.00 price objective (down from $327.00) on shares of Progressive in a research report on Thursday, September 18th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $279.63.

Insider Buying and Selling at Progressive

In other news, CEO Susan Patricia Griffith sold 30,660 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $242.12, for a total transaction of $7,423,399.20. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 506,945 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $122,741,523.40. This represents a 5.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Karen Bailo sold 8,922 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction on Monday, July 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.24, for a total transaction of $2,223,719.28. Following the completion of the sale, 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 130,045 shares of company stock worth $31,997,390 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Progressive Stock Performance

NYSE:PGR opened at $246.10 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 0.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. The Progressive Corporation has a twelve month low of $228.54 and a twelve month high of $292.99. The company has a fifty day moving average of $245.14 and a 200-day moving average of $260.66. The firm has a market capitalization of $144.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.86, a P/E/G ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 0.32.

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

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 2nd will be given a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 2nd. Progressive’s payout ratio is presently 2.25%.

Progressive Company 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.