The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) Shares Sold by Lord Abbett & CO. LLC

Lord Abbett & CO. LLC reduced its holdings in shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 43.9% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 93,569 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 73,289 shares during the period. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC’s holdings in Progressive were worth $23,744,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. DGS Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Progressive in the third quarter worth $458,000. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas acquired a new position in Progressive in the 3rd quarter valued at about $35,253,000. Synovus Financial Corp lifted its stake in shares of Progressive by 6.4% during the third quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 2,069 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $525,000 after buying an additional 124 shares during the period. Tidal Investments LLC boosted its position in Progressive by 65.8% during the third quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 72,163 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $18,312,000 after acquiring an additional 28,636 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB grew its stake in Progressive by 270.5% in the 3rd quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 11,833 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $3,003,000 after acquiring an additional 8,639 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Progressive

In related news, insider Steven Broz sold 2,981 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $251.15, for a total transaction of $748,678.15. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 26,353 shares in the company, valued at $6,618,555.95. This trade represents a 10.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Patrick K. Callahan sold 7,696 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $255.21, for a total transaction of $1,964,096.16. Following the sale, the insider now owns 15,189 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,876,384.69. The trade was a 33.63 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 25,839 shares of company stock worth $6,718,965. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on PGR shares. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Progressive from $281.00 to $282.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Progressive from $331.00 to $335.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Progressive from $242.00 to $251.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on Progressive from $257.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on Progressive from $262.00 to $280.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Progressive presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $270.69.

Progressive Stock Up 3.7 %

Shares of NYSE PGR opened at $251.80 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $147.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.30, a PEG ratio of 0.70 and a beta of 0.38. The Progressive Co. has a 1 year low of $149.14 and a 1 year high of $270.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a current ratio of 0.30. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $253.91 and its 200-day simple moving average is $237.02.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The insurance provider reported $3.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.40 by $0.18. Progressive had a net margin of 11.27% and a return on equity of 33.10%. The business had revenue of $19.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $18.95 billion. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that The Progressive Co. will post 13.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 16th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.16%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, January 9th. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio is presently 2.91%.

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.