New Century Financial Group LLC Lowers Position in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

New Century Financial Group LLC decreased its position in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 57.3% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 763 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 1,025 shares during the period. New Century Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Progressive were worth $216,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. CVA Family Office LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Progressive by 9.2% in the first quarter. CVA Family Office LLC now owns 1,011 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $286,000 after acquiring an additional 85 shares in the last quarter. Everhart Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Progressive by 11.6% in the first quarter. Everhart Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,957 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,120,000 after acquiring an additional 411 shares in the last quarter. Bensler LLC lifted its stake in shares of Progressive by 5.6% in the first quarter. Bensler LLC now owns 66,245 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $18,748,000 after purchasing an additional 3,536 shares during the period. Relyea Zuckerberg Hanson LLC lifted its stake in shares of Progressive by 11.3% in the first quarter. Relyea Zuckerberg Hanson LLC now owns 2,754 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $779,000 after purchasing an additional 280 shares during the period. Finally, Osprey Private Wealth LLC lifted its stake in shares of Progressive by 12.4% in the first quarter. Osprey Private Wealth LLC now owns 18,675 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $5,285,000 after purchasing an additional 2,060 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $275.94, for a total value of $2,759,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 258,024 shares in the company, valued at approximately $71,199,142.56. The trade was a 3.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Steven Broz sold 1,267 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $277.81, for a total transaction of $351,985.27. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 28,888 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,025,375.28. The trade was a 4.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 37,755 shares of company stock valued at $10,367,074 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PGR has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Progressive from $285.00 to $297.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 11th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Progressive from $285.00 to $291.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 28th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated a “market perform” rating and issued a $288.00 price objective on shares of Progressive in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Morgan Stanley set a $330.00 price objective on shares of Progressive and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, May 19th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Progressive from $282.00 to $288.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $288.59.

Progressive Stock Performance

NYSE:PGR opened at $267.58 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $276.07 and a 200-day simple moving average of $264.55. 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 firm has a market cap of $156.86 billion, a PE ratio of 18.58, a P/E/G ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.40. The Progressive Co. has a 1-year low of $203.39 and a 1-year high of $292.99.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 16th. The insurance provider reported $4.65 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.28 by $0.37. The business had revenue of $22.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $21.87 billion. Progressive had a net margin of 11.25% and a return on equity of 33.79%. On average, equities analysts expect that The Progressive Co. will post 14.68 EPS for the current year.

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.