Pitcairn Co. Cuts Stock Holdings in The Progressive Corporation $PGR

Pitcairn Co. lessened its holdings in The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) by 26.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 13,729 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 4,947 shares during the period. Pitcairn Co.’s holdings in Progressive were worth $3,390,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of PGR. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Progressive by 0.3% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 54,667,528 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $13,500,146,000 after buying an additional 151,240 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Progressive by 2.0% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 15,513,188 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $4,128,055,000 after acquiring an additional 301,371 shares in the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. increased its holdings in shares of Progressive by 32.8% in the 2nd quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 10,972,574 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,928,141,000 after acquiring an additional 2,709,417 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Progressive in the 2nd quarter valued at $2,156,939,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Progressive by 1.1% in the 2nd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,129,069 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,101,883,000 after acquiring an additional 42,909 shares in the last quarter. 85.34% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Progressive

In related news, CIO Jonathan S. Bauer sold 3,105 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $204.35, for a total value of $634,506.75. Following the transaction, the executive directly owned 26,249 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,363,983.15. This represents a 10.58% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Andrew J. Quigg sold 1,649 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $204.35, for a total value of $336,973.15. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 39,626 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,097,573.10. This trade represents a 4.00% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 9,103 shares of company stock worth $1,883,924. 0.34% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on PGR. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $225.00 price objective on shares of Progressive in a research report on Monday, February 23rd. Citigroup decreased their price target on shares of Progressive from $300.60 to $261.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of Progressive from $303.00 to $275.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 7th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of Progressive from $214.00 to $205.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 28th. Finally, William Blair lowered shares of Progressive from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 18th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $245.50.

Progressive Price Performance

Shares of PGR stock opened at $210.55 on Friday. The Progressive Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $197.92 and a fifty-two week high of $292.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a quick ratio of 0.29 and a current ratio of 0.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $123.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.94, a PEG ratio of 9.24 and a beta of 0.33. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $209.31 and its 200-day simple moving average is $224.42.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 8th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 2nd were paid a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 2nd. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.2%. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio is presently 2.08%.

Progressive 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.