Essex Financial Services Inc. Has $804,000 Stock Holdings in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Essex Financial Services Inc. lowered its stake in shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 3.4% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 3,357 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 118 shares during the period. Essex Financial Services Inc.’s holdings in Progressive were worth $804,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Webster Bank N. A. acquired a new stake in Progressive during the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. Hager Investment Management Services LLC acquired a new position in Progressive in the 4th quarter worth about $28,000. Valley National Advisers Inc. raised its stake in shares of Progressive by 3,000.0% during the 4th quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 124 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 120 shares in the last quarter. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Progressive by 114.1% during the 3rd quarter. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. now owns 137 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 73 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Independence Bank of Kentucky grew its stake in shares of Progressive by 1,650.0% in the 4th quarter. Independence Bank of Kentucky now owns 175 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $42,000 after buying an additional 165 shares in the last quarter. 85.34% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Progressive Price Performance

NYSE:PGR opened at $256.66 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 0.31 and a quick ratio of 0.30. The Progressive Co. has a one year low of $180.72 and a one year high of $270.62. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $244.86 and a 200 day moving average price of $246.57. The stock has a market cap of $150.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.82, a PEG ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 0.42.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The insurance provider reported $4.08 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.44 by $0.64. Progressive had a net margin of 11.25% and a return on equity of 33.79%. Analysts anticipate that The Progressive Co. will post 14.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 16th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 9th were given a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.16%. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio is currently 2.78%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Progressive from $300.00 to $307.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Hsbc Global Res lowered shares of Progressive from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Raymond James raised shares of Progressive from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $305.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Progressive from $251.00 to $256.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Barclays decreased their price target on Progressive from $277.00 to $261.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $275.71.

Insider Transactions at Progressive

In other Progressive news, insider Andrew J. Quigg sold 681 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $242.10, for a total transaction of $164,870.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 33,612 shares in the company, valued at $8,137,465.20. This trade represents a 1.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Mariann Wojtkun Marshall sold 191 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $242.10, for a total value of $46,241.10. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 3,982 shares in the company, valued at approximately $964,042.20. This represents a 4.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 56,361 shares of company stock valued at $13,983,575. 0.34% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.