The Progressive Corporation $PGR Shares Sold by Knollwood Investment Advisory LLC

Knollwood Investment Advisory LLC cut its position in shares of The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) by 74.7% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 1,198 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 3,535 shares during the quarter. Knollwood Investment Advisory LLC’s holdings in Progressive were worth $262,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of PGR. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Progressive in the second quarter valued at $10,496,271,000. Bank of America Corp DE purchased a new stake in shares of Progressive in the 2nd quarter worth about $2,682,342,000. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Progressive in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,836,094,000. GQG Partners LLC purchased a new position in Progressive during the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,538,570,000. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG acquired a new position in Progressive during the second quarter worth about $1,098,838,000. 85.34% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Progressive news, insider Lori A. Niederst sold 7,339 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $209.29, for a total transaction of $1,535,979.31. Following the transaction, the insider owned 42,567 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,908,847.43. This trade represents a 14.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Andrew J. Quigg sold 3,499 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $220.00, for a total transaction of $769,780.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 42,595 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,370,900. This trade represents a 7.59% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last three months, insiders sold 113,714 shares of company stock valued at $24,466,294. 0.32% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently commented on PGR. Roth Capital reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $245.00 price target on shares of Progressive in a research report on Thursday, August 20th. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Progressive in a research note on Wednesday, August 19th. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “hold” rating and set a $228.00 price target on shares of Progressive in a research report on Wednesday, August 19th. HSBC upped their price objective on Progressive from $214.00 to $221.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, July 6th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Progressive from $250.00 to $241.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, August 4th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $236.26.

Progressive Stock Performance

Progressive stock opened at $223.90 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $217.67 and a 200 day moving average price of $207.71. The Progressive Corporation has a 52 week low of $189.20 and a 52 week high of $249.83. The firm has a market capitalization of $130.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.23, a PEG ratio of 2.95 and a beta of 0.27. The company has a current ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 15th. The insurance provider reported $5.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.64 by $1.03. The firm had revenue of $23.61 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $19.49 billion. Progressive had a return on equity of 32.92% and a net margin of 12.84%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $5.40 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that The Progressive Corporation will post 17.74 earnings per share for the current year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 9th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 1st. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio is presently 2.01%.

Progressive Company Profile

Progressive Corporation is a large U.S.-based property and casualty insurer that primarily underwrites personal auto insurance along with a broad suite of related products. Its offerings include coverage for private passenger automobiles, commercial auto fleets, motorcycles, boats and recreational vehicles, as well as homeowners, renters, umbrella and other specialty P&C products. Progressive also provides claims handling, risk management and related services to individual and commercial policyholders.

The company distributes its products through a mix of direct channels—online and by phone—and an extensive independent agent network.