The Progressive Corporation $PGR Shares Sold by Lockheed Martin Investment Management Co.

Lockheed Martin Investment Management Co. cut its holdings in shares of The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) by 21.7% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 29,530 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 8,200 shares during the period. Lockheed Martin Investment Management Co.’s holdings in Progressive were worth $7,880,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. RWWM Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Progressive during the second quarter worth approximately $318,000. AMG National Trust Bank boosted its position in shares of Progressive by 35.7% during the second quarter. AMG National Trust Bank now owns 1,715 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $458,000 after buying an additional 451 shares during the period. Creekmur Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Progressive during the second quarter worth approximately $62,000. IFG Advisory LLC boosted its position in shares of Progressive by 12.3% during the second quarter. IFG Advisory LLC now owns 1,348 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $360,000 after buying an additional 148 shares during the period. Finally, FWG Investments LLC. acquired a new position in shares of Progressive during the second quarter worth approximately $380,000. 85.34% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on Progressive from $309.00 to $287.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 11th. Evercore ISI dropped their target price on Progressive from $275.00 to $273.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 1st. Wall Street Zen cut Progressive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, September 21st. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on Progressive from $266.00 to $246.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 16th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Progressive in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $268.90.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Progressive news, CEO Susan Patricia Griffith sold 30,659 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $246.06, for a total value of $7,543,953.54. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 476,286 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $117,194,933.16. This represents a 6.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Patrick K. Callahan sold 6,420 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $242.22, for a total value of $1,555,052.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 15,192 shares in the company, valued at $3,679,806.24. This represents a 29.71% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 58,500 shares of company stock valued at $14,430,089 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Progressive Price Performance

NYSE PGR opened at $206.71 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $121.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.34, a P/E/G ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 0.32. The Progressive Corporation has a 1 year low of $206.41 and a 1 year high of $292.99. The business’s fifty day moving average is $237.97 and its two-hundred day moving average is $254.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a quick ratio of 0.31 and a current ratio of 0.32.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 15th. The insurance provider reported $4.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $5.04 by ($0.59). The company had revenue of $21.38 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $21.64 billion. Progressive had a net margin of 12.57% and a return on equity of 33.88%. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $3.58 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that The Progressive Corporation will post 14.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 2nd were issued a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 2nd. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.2%. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio is currently 2.19%.

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.