Alliancebernstein L.P. Reduces Position in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Alliancebernstein L.P. reduced its holdings in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 4.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,171,329 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 329,907 shares during the period. Progressive makes up 0.6% of Alliancebernstein L.P.’s holdings, making the stock its 26th biggest position. Alliancebernstein L.P. owned 1.22% of Progressive worth $1,718,322,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of PGR. Webster Bank N. A. acquired a new position in shares of Progressive during the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Hager Investment Management Services LLC purchased a new position in Progressive during the fourth quarter worth approximately $28,000. Atlantic Edge Private Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Progressive by 54.7% during the fourth quarter. Atlantic Edge Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 116 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. grew its holdings in Progressive by 3,000.0% in the 4th quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 124 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 120 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Atala Financial Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Progressive in the 4th quarter worth $32,000. 85.34% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Progressive from $264.00 to $285.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 13th. Roth Mkm raised their price target on shares of Progressive from $290.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Hsbc Global Res cut Progressive from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Progressive from $313.00 to $317.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Bank of America decreased their price target on Progressive from $318.00 to $300.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $281.06.

Insider Transactions at Progressive

In other Progressive news, Director Devin C. Johnson sold 400 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $275.04, for a total transaction of $110,016.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 8,370 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,302,084.80. The trade was a 4.56 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Mariann Wojtkun Marshall sold 191 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 3,982 shares in the company, valued at approximately $964,042.20. The trade was a 4.58 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 56,255 shares of company stock valued at $14,490,871. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Progressive Price Performance

Shares of PGR opened at $279.13 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $163.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.38, a PEG ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.35. The Progressive Co. has a fifty-two week low of $201.34 and a fifty-two week high of $292.99. The company has a quick ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 0.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $265.32 and its 200 day moving average price is $255.91.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The insurance provider reported $4.08 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.44 by $0.64. Progressive had a return on equity of 33.79% and a net margin of 11.25%. On average, research analysts forecast that The Progressive Co. will post 14.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be paid a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.14%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 3rd. Progressive’s payout ratio is presently 2.78%.

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.