Astoria Portfolio Advisors LLC. Sells 45 Shares of The Progressive Corporation $PGR

Astoria Portfolio Advisors LLC. trimmed its holdings in shares of The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) by 2.0% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 2,206 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 45 shares during the period. Astoria Portfolio Advisors LLC.’s holdings in Progressive were worth $546,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in PGR. Highline Wealth Partners LLC raised its stake in Progressive by 114.0% in the 1st quarter. Highline Wealth Partners LLC now owns 92 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 49 shares during the period. TruNorth Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Progressive by 210.0% in the 1st quarter. TruNorth Capital Management LLC now owns 93 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 63 shares during the period. HWG Holdings LP bought a new stake in Progressive in the 1st quarter valued at about $28,000. Garde Capital Inc. bought a new stake in Progressive in the 1st quarter valued at about $33,000. Finally, Ransom Advisory Ltd bought a new stake in Progressive in the 1st quarter valued at about $35,000. 85.34% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on PGR shares. Wall Street Zen cut Progressive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, September 21st. Citigroup reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Progressive in a report on Friday, August 29th. BMO Capital Markets set a $252.00 target price on Progressive in a report on Thursday, September 18th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on Progressive from $267.00 to $265.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, September 22nd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on Progressive from $268.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, September 18th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Progressive presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $279.63.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Lori A. Niederst sold 8,063 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.18, for a total transaction of $2,017,201.34. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 39,040 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,767,027.20. This represents a 17.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Susan Patricia Griffith sold 30,659 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $246.06, for a total value of $7,543,953.54. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 476,286 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $117,194,933.16. This trade represents a 6.05% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 130,045 shares of company stock valued at $31,997,390. Corporate insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Progressive Stock Down 0.8%

Shares of PGR opened at $240.18 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $140.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.53, a P/E/G ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 0.32. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $245.20 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $259.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 0.31 and a quick ratio of 0.31. The Progressive Corporation has a 1 year low of $228.54 and a 1 year high of $292.99.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 16th. The insurance provider reported $4.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.43 by $0.45. The business had revenue of $20.08 billion during 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 quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.48 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that The Progressive Corporation will post 14.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

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

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.