Klingman & Associates LLC Sells 62 Shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Klingman & Associates LLC reduced its stake in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 4.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,358 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 62 shares during the period. Klingman & Associates LLC’s holdings in Progressive were worth $325,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its stake in Progressive by 98.2% in the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 789 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $189,000 after acquiring an additional 391 shares in the last quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC grew its stake in Progressive by 90.9% in the 3rd quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 7,813 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,983,000 after acquiring an additional 3,720 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its stake in Progressive by 7.0% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 5,067,924 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,286,036,000 after acquiring an additional 330,667 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake in Progressive by 2,262.4% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 433,999 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $103,990,000 after acquiring an additional 415,628 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Signal Advisors Wealth LLC grew its stake in Progressive by 42.3% in the 4th quarter. Signal Advisors Wealth LLC now owns 11,889 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,849,000 after acquiring an additional 3,534 shares in the last quarter. 85.34% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have commented on PGR shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Progressive from $251.00 to $256.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of Progressive from $277.00 to $285.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Progressive from $331.00 to $335.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Progressive from $261.00 to $264.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Progressive from $302.00 to $313.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $275.88.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Susan Patricia Griffith sold 9,066 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, January 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $242.10, for a total value of $2,194,878.60. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 473,736 shares in the company, valued at $114,691,485.60. This represents a 1.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Lori A. Niederst sold 3,855 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $247.06, for a total transaction of $952,416.30. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 39,040 shares in the company, valued at $9,645,222.40. The trade was a 8.99 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 56,361 shares of company stock valued at $13,983,575. Insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Progressive Trading Up 2.2 %

NYSE PGR opened at $269.71 on Thursday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $246.11 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $248.36. The stock has a market cap of $158.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.73, a P/E/G ratio of 0.66 and a beta of 0.42. The Progressive Co. has a 12-month low of $186.94 and a 12-month high of $270.79. The company has a current ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The insurance provider reported $4.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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%. On average, analysts forecast that The Progressive Co. will post 14.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 16th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 9th were issued a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.15%. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio is currently 2.78%.

Progressive 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.