Greenfield Savings Bank Lowers Stake in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Greenfield Savings Bank decreased its holdings in shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 0.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 16,300 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 112 shares during the period. Progressive accounts for 1.9% of Greenfield Savings Bank’s portfolio, making the stock its 12th largest position. Greenfield Savings Bank’s holdings in Progressive were worth $3,906,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Headlands Technologies LLC raised its holdings in Progressive by 278.1% in the second quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 484 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $101,000 after buying an additional 356 shares during the last quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. boosted its stake in Progressive by 60.0% during the 2nd quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 10,618 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,205,000 after purchasing an additional 3,980 shares during the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Progressive by 8.3% in the 2nd quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 8,852 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,839,000 after purchasing an additional 679 shares in the last quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Progressive in the 2nd quarter worth about $23,413,000. Finally, J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Progressive during the second quarter valued at approximately $230,000. 85.34% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Progressive

In other Progressive news, CEO Susan Patricia Griffith sold 9,066 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $242.10, for a total value of $2,194,878.60. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 473,736 shares in the company, valued at approximately $114,691,485.60. This represents a 1.88 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Steven Broz sold 2,981 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $251.15, for a total transaction of $748,678.15. Following the sale, the insider now owns 26,353 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,618,555.95. This trade represents a 10.16 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 32,919 shares of company stock worth $8,222,168 over the last ninety days. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently weighed in on PGR. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on Progressive from $257.00 to $295.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on shares of Progressive from $273.00 to $267.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Progressive from $299.00 to $302.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Progressive from $251.00 to $256.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, TD Cowen raised their price target on Progressive from $197.00 to $237.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 8th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Progressive currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $275.24.

Progressive Stock Performance

Shares of Progressive stock opened at $235.84 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a current ratio of 0.30. The Progressive Co. has a one year low of $166.92 and a one year high of $270.62. The company has a market cap of $138.16 billion, a PE ratio of 17.14, a P/E/G ratio of 0.70 and a beta of 0.41. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $251.23 and a 200-day simple moving average of $241.78.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The insurance provider reported $3.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.40 by $0.18. Progressive had a net margin of 11.27% and a return on equity of 33.10%. The business had revenue of $19.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $18.95 billion. On average, equities research analysts forecast that The Progressive Co. will post 13.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 16th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 9th will be paid a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.17%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 2.91%.

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.