Gries Financial LLC Sells 215 Shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Gries Financial LLC lowered its stake in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 9.2% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 2,115 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 215 shares during the quarter. Gries Financial LLC’s holdings in Progressive were worth $507,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Davis Capital Management bought a new position in shares of Progressive in the third quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Webster Bank N. A. purchased a new stake in Progressive in the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. boosted its holdings in Progressive by 114.1% in the 3rd quarter. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. now owns 137 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 73 shares during the period. Friedenthal Financial purchased a new position in shares of Progressive during the 3rd quarter valued at $49,000. Finally, Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Progressive in the third quarter worth $49,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Progressive Price Performance

Shares of Progressive stock opened at $249.20 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $145.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 0.41. The Progressive Co. has a one year low of $176.37 and a one year high of $270.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a current ratio of 0.30 and a quick ratio of 0.30. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $247.67 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $244.27.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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 34.32%. Analysts forecast that The Progressive Co. will post 14.03 EPS for the current year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 16th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 9th were paid a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.16%. Progressive’s payout ratio is presently 2.78%.

Insider Activity at Progressive

In other Progressive news, insider Andrew J. Quigg sold 962 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $243.29, for a total transaction of $234,044.98. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 34,787 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,463,329.23. The trade was a 2.69 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 292,958 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $78,539,110.22. This represents a 3.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 52,506 shares of company stock worth $13,031,159 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently commented on the company. BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on Progressive from $273.00 to $267.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Hsbc Global Res cut shares of Progressive from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Progressive from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Raymond James raised shares of Progressive from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $305.00 price target on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 26th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on shares of Progressive from $257.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Progressive presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $275.29.

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.