Verdence Capital Advisors LLC Sells 25,032 Shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Verdence Capital Advisors LLC lessened its stake in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 93.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,801 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 25,032 shares during the quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Progressive were worth $287,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Giverny Capital Inc. grew its stake in Progressive by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter. Giverny Capital Inc. now owns 501,431 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $69,849,000 after buying an additional 14,022 shares in the last quarter. AIA Group Ltd grew its stake in Progressive by 4.9% in the 3rd quarter. AIA Group Ltd now owns 155,427 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $21,651,000 after buying an additional 7,268 shares in the last quarter. Invesco LLC grew its stake in Progressive by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Invesco LLC now owns 3,537 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $563,000 after buying an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. Strs Ohio grew its stake in Progressive by 3.1% in the 4th quarter. Strs Ohio now owns 168,187 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $26,788,000 after buying an additional 4,983 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Affirmative Financial Network purchased a new position in Progressive in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $295,000. Institutional investors own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Progressive from $232.00 to $238.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. TD Cowen assumed coverage on shares of Progressive in a research report on Wednesday, January 10th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $174.00 price target for the company. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on shares of Progressive from $241.00 to $245.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 15th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of Progressive from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Progressive from $228.00 to $247.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $211.88.

Progressive Stock Performance

Progressive stock opened at $214.02 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The company has a market capitalization of $125.35 billion, a PE ratio of 21.91, a P/E/G ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 0.35. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $201.17 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $176.58. The Progressive Co. has a twelve month low of $111.41 and a twelve month high of $216.21.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 12th. The insurance provider reported $3.94 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.20 by $0.74. The business had revenue of $18.96 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.88 billion. Progressive had a net margin of 8.89% and a return on equity of 29.43%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.65 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that The Progressive Co. will post 11.22 EPS for the current year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 4th were paid a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.19%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, April 3rd. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio is presently 4.09%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Progressive news, insider Patrick K. Callahan sold 29,675 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.26, for a total value of $5,645,965.50. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 15,189 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,889,859.14. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, Director Devin C. Johnson sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.33, for a total transaction of $208,330.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 7,176 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,494,976.08. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Patrick K. Callahan sold 29,675 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.26, for a total transaction of $5,645,965.50. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 15,189 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,889,859.14. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 39,139 shares of company stock valued at $7,458,139 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

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.