HighTower Advisors LLC Lowers Stock Position in The Progressive Corporation $PGR

HighTower Advisors LLC lowered its holdings in The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) by 12.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 114,920 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 16,962 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in Progressive were worth $26,170,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Klingman & Associates LLC increased its position in shares of Progressive by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Klingman & Associates LLC now owns 2,927 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $667,000 after acquiring an additional 48 shares in the last quarter. Wealthstream Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of Progressive by 4.6% in the third quarter. Wealthstream Advisors Inc. now owns 1,111 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $274,000 after acquiring an additional 49 shares in the last quarter. Revisor Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Progressive by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. Revisor Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,902 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $395,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Cullen Investment Group LTD. increased its position in shares of Progressive by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Cullen Investment Group LTD. now owns 7,463 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,606,000 after acquiring an additional 52 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pines Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Progressive by 3.9% in the fourth quarter. Pines Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,399 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $319,000 after acquiring an additional 52 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CIO Jonathan S. Bauer sold 2,266 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $203.05, for a total value of $460,111.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive directly owned 26,250 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,330,062.50. This represents a 7.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Maribel Pumarejo sold 739 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $203.25, for a total transaction of $150,201.75. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 6,933 shares of company stock valued at $1,441,564 over the last ninety days. 0.32% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Progressive Price Performance

Shares of PGR stock opened at $199.28 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $116.45 billion, a PE ratio of 10.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 7.28 and a beta of 0.31. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $200.46 and a 200-day simple moving average of $210.22. The company has a current ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 0.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The Progressive Corporation has a twelve month low of $191.75 and a twelve month high of $289.96.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 15th. The insurance provider reported $4.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.67 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $22.19 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $23.51 billion. Progressive had a net margin of 12.92% and a return on equity of 33.47%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $4.37 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that The Progressive Corporation will post 16.37 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 2nd will be paid a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 2nd. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.2%. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio is 2.03%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently issued reports on PGR. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Progressive from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Barclays set a $247.00 price objective on shares of Progressive in a research report on Wednesday, March 18th. Roth Mkm set a $235.00 price objective on shares of Progressive in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. Mizuho dropped their price objective on shares of Progressive from $235.00 to $223.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 20th. Finally, Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $259.00 price objective on shares of Progressive in a research report on Monday, March 2nd. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $238.11.

About Progressive

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.