Essex Financial Services Inc. Sells 56 Shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Essex Financial Services Inc. lowered its position in shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 3.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,694 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 56 shares during the period. Essex Financial Services Inc.’s holdings in Progressive were worth $270,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in PGR. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in shares of Progressive by 14.1% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 21,554,503 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $3,002,542,000 after acquiring an additional 2,666,449 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its position in shares of Progressive by 31.8% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,781,075 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $666,004,000 after acquiring an additional 1,154,591 shares in the last quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC increased its position in shares of Progressive by 102.9% during the third quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 2,131,601 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $296,932,000 after acquiring an additional 1,080,834 shares in the last quarter. J.P. Morgan Private Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Progressive during the third quarter valued at approximately $88,528,000. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Progressive by 62.2% during the third quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,484,903 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $206,847,000 after acquiring an additional 569,529 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Progressive Stock Down 0.1 %

PGR opened at $208.72 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 0.31 and a current ratio of 0.36. The Progressive Co. has a fifty-two week low of $111.41 and a fifty-two week high of $216.21. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $203.96 and its 200 day moving average is $179.25. The stock has a market cap of $122.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.34.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last released its earnings results on Friday, April 12th. The insurance provider reported $3.94 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.20 by $0.74. Progressive had a net margin of 8.89% and a return on equity of 29.43%. The company had revenue of $18.96 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.88 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.65 EPS. Progressive’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that The Progressive Co. will post 11.34 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 4th were paid a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.19%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, April 3rd. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 4.09%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Roth Mkm raised their target price on shares of Progressive from $215.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Progressive from $171.00 to $202.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. HSBC raised their target price on shares of Progressive from $174.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, March 28th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on shares of Progressive from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of Progressive from $161.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, March 25th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $211.88.

Insider Buying and Selling at Progressive

In other Progressive news, Director Devin C. Johnson sold 1,000 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.33, for a total value of $208,330.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 7,176 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,494,976.08. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Progressive news, Director Devin C. Johnson sold 1,000 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.33, for a total value of $208,330.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 7,176 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,494,976.08. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Karen Bailo sold 8,464 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $189.49, for a total transaction of $1,603,843.36. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 32,342 shares in the company, valued at $6,128,485.58. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 39,139 shares of company stock worth $7,458,139. Insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

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.