SkyView Investment Advisors LLC Boosts Stock Position in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

SkyView Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 2.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 8,054 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 171 shares during the quarter. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Progressive were worth $2,044,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of PGR. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC raised its position in Progressive by 17.3% during the 2nd quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 76,709 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $15,933,000 after buying an additional 11,327 shares during the last quarter. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Progressive in the second quarter valued at about $347,000. ORG Partners LLC lifted its position in Progressive by 3,150.0% in the second quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 2,080 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $436,000 after purchasing an additional 2,016 shares during the period. Swedbank AB boosted its holdings in Progressive by 12.7% in the 2nd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 636,757 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $132,261,000 after purchasing an additional 71,762 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fiduciary Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Progressive during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $303,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Patrick K. Callahan sold 7,696 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $255.21, for a total value of $1,964,096.16. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 15,189 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,876,384.69. This trade represents a 33.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $268.09, for a total transaction of $2,680,900.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 292,958 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $78,539,110.22. This trade represents a 3.30 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 25,839 shares of company stock valued at $6,718,965 in the last quarter. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Progressive Stock Down 1.5 %

PGR opened at $243.68 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $142.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.71, a PEG ratio of 0.70 and a beta of 0.38. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $254.17 and its 200 day simple moving average is $236.18. The Progressive Co. has a 52 week low of $149.14 and a 52 week high of $270.62. The company has a quick ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 0.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25.

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

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 16th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 9th will be issued a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, January 9th. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.16%. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 2.91%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the company. StockNews.com upgraded Progressive from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Progressive from $300.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on shares of Progressive from $262.00 to $280.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Progressive from $281.00 to $282.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on shares of Progressive from $267.00 to $277.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $270.69.

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.