Avantax Advisory Services Inc. Sells 3,642 Shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Avantax Advisory Services Inc. trimmed its position in shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 11.5% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 28,136 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 3,642 shares during the quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc.’s holdings in Progressive were worth $6,742,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently commented on PGR. StockNews.com lowered Progressive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their target price on Progressive from $295.00 to $294.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company 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 target price for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 26th. Bank of America cut their target price on Progressive from $333.00 to $318.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on Progressive from $264.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $277.82.

Insider Buying and Selling at Progressive

In related news, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $238.66, for a total transaction of $2,386,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 282,958 shares in the company, valued at $67,530,756.28. This represents a 3.41 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Andrew J. Quigg sold 681 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $242.10, for a total value of $164,870.10. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 33,612 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,137,465.20. This trade represents a 1.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 62,257 shares of company stock valued at $15,752,781 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Progressive Stock Performance

NYSE PGR opened at $279.54 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $163.87 billion, a PE ratio of 19.41, a P/E/G ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.35. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $257.30 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $253.68. 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 Progressive Co. has a 1-year low of $199.54 and a 1-year high of $287.49.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The insurance provider reported $4.08 EPS for the quarter, topping 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%. On average, research analysts predict that The Progressive Co. will post 14.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.14%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 3rd. Progressive’s payout ratio is currently 2.78%.

Progressive Company 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.