Sigma Planning Corp Has $1.20 Million Holdings in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Sigma Planning Corp lessened its position in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 12.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 5,026 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 736 shares during the quarter. Sigma Planning Corp’s holdings in Progressive were worth $1,204,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PGR. Webster Bank N. A. acquired a new stake in shares of Progressive in the fourth quarter worth $26,000. Hager Investment Management Services LLC purchased a new stake in Progressive in the 4th quarter worth about $28,000. Atlantic Edge Private Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Progressive by 54.7% during the 4th quarter. Atlantic Edge Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 116 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 41 shares during the period. Valley National Advisers Inc. grew its stake in Progressive by 3,000.0% during the 4th quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 124 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 120 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Independence Bank of Kentucky increased its holdings in shares of Progressive by 1,650.0% in the 4th quarter. Independence Bank of Kentucky now owns 175 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 165 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PGR has been the subject of several research reports. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price target on shares of Progressive from $273.00 to $267.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, December 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price target on shares of Progressive from $295.00 to $294.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Raymond James raised Progressive from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $305.00 price target for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 26th. Bank of America boosted their price target on Progressive from $331.00 to $335.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Progressive from $261.00 to $264.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $276.12.

Progressive Stock Up 2.5 %

PGR stock opened at $272.91 on Tuesday. 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 company has a 50-day moving average of $247.35 and a two-hundred day moving average of $249.74. The stock has a market capitalization of $159.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.42. The Progressive Co. has a 52-week low of $186.94 and a 52-week high of $275.52.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The insurance provider reported $4.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that The Progressive Co. will post 14.68 EPS for the current year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 16th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 9th were given a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.15%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 10th. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 2.78%.

Insider Activity at Progressive

In related news, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of the business’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 transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 292,958 shares in the company, valued at $78,539,110.22. The trade was a 3.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Mariann Wojtkun Marshall sold 191 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $242.10, for a total value of $46,241.10. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 3,982 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $964,042.20. This represents a 4.58 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 56,361 shares of company stock worth $13,983,575 in the last ninety days. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.