Argent Capital Management LLC Sells 4,661 Shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Argent Capital Management LLC decreased its stake in shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR - Free Report) by 1.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 249,820 shares of the insurance provider's stock after selling 4,661 shares during the period. Progressive accounts for 1.7% of Argent Capital Management LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 22nd largest position. Argent Capital Management LLC's holdings in Progressive were worth $59,859,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Progressive in the 2nd quarter valued at $230,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Progressive by 20.3% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,467,191 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $304,775,000 after purchasing an additional 247,144 shares during the last quarter. One Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Progressive in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $541,000. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Progressive by 376.0% in the second quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,060 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $1,259,000 after purchasing an additional 4,787 shares during the period. Finally, Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT boosted its holdings in shares of Progressive by 32.7% in the 2nd quarter. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT now owns 4,629 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $961,000 after buying an additional 1,140 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.34% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently commented on PGR. Morgan Stanley restated an "overweight" rating and set a $310.00 price objective on shares of Progressive in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Progressive from $299.00 to $302.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their target price on shares of Progressive from $295.00 to $294.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on Progressive from $262.00 to $280.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. Finally, TD Cowen lifted their price objective on shares of Progressive from $197.00 to $237.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $275.24.

Progressive Stock Up 1.3 %

Shares of Progressive stock traded up $3.10 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $245.57. 1,895,451 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,601,335. The company has a market cap of $143.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.61 and a beta of 0.41. The Progressive Co. has a 52 week low of $166.92 and a 52 week high of $270.62. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $250.72 and its 200 day simple moving average is $242.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a current ratio of 0.30.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 15th. The insurance provider reported $3.58 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.40 by $0.18. Progressive had a return on equity of 33.10% and a net margin of 11.27%. The business had revenue of $19.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $18.95 billion. Equities analysts expect that The Progressive Co. will post 13.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 16th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.16%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 10th. Progressive's dividend payout ratio is currently 2.91%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Progressive news, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $238.66, for a total value of $2,386,600.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 282,958 shares of the company's stock, valued at $67,530,756.28. The trade was a 3.41 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Andrew J. Quigg sold 681 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 directly owns 33,612 shares of the company's stock, valued at $8,137,465.20. This represents a 1.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 32,919 shares of company stock worth $8,222,168 in the last quarter. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.