Exchange Traded Concepts LLC Grows Position in The Progressive Corporation $PGR

Exchange Traded Concepts LLC boosted its position in shares of The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) by 34.9% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 31,548 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 8,161 shares during the period. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC’s holdings in Progressive were worth $7,791,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. J2 Capital Management Inc grew its stake in shares of Progressive by 17.8% during the third quarter. J2 Capital Management Inc now owns 2,083 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $514,000 after buying an additional 314 shares during the last quarter. Hixon Zuercher LLC grew its position in Progressive by 6.7% in the 3rd quarter. Hixon Zuercher LLC now owns 11,641 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,875,000 after acquiring an additional 736 shares during the last quarter. Diversified Enterprises LLC increased its stake in Progressive by 10.4% in the third quarter. Diversified Enterprises LLC now owns 2,438 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $602,000 after purchasing an additional 230 shares during the period. Orrstown Financial Services Inc. lifted its position in shares of Progressive by 12.6% during the third quarter. Orrstown Financial Services Inc. now owns 2,856 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $705,000 after purchasing an additional 319 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Selective Wealth Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Progressive by 2.1% during the third quarter. Selective Wealth Management Inc. now owns 2,207 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $538,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PGR has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of Progressive from $301.38 to $300.60 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, December 15th. William Blair lowered shares of Progressive from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 18th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on shares of Progressive from $246.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 18th. Bank of America dropped their price objective on Progressive from $350.00 to $348.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, December 9th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price objective on Progressive from $271.00 to $257.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, October 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $264.98.

Progressive Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:PGR opened at $227.74 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $133.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 0.36. The Progressive Corporation has a 52 week low of $199.90 and a 52 week high of $292.99. The company has a quick ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 0.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $222.33 and a 200 day moving average of $239.80.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last announced its 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 for 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 last year, the business posted $3.58 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that The Progressive Corporation will post 14.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 8th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 2nd will be paid a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 2nd. Progressive’s payout ratio is 2.19%.

Insider Transactions at Progressive

In other news, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 5,000 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $228.48, for a total value of $1,142,400.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 223,024 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $50,956,523.52. The trade was a 2.19% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Steven Broz sold 1,345 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $228.29, for a total transaction of $307,050.05. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 27,698 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,323,176.42. The trade was a 4.63% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 9,034 shares of company stock valued at $2,047,481 over the last quarter. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Progressive Company Profile

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.