Earnest Partners LLC Sells 49,645 Shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Earnest Partners LLC trimmed its position in shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR - Free Report) by 7.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 628,952 shares of the insurance provider's stock after selling 49,645 shares during the period. Earnest Partners LLC owned about 0.11% of Progressive worth $150,703,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of PGR. Morse Asset Management Inc acquired a new position in Progressive in the 3rd quarter worth about $55,000. Virtu Financial LLC bought a new stake in Progressive during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $2,566,000. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Progressive by 2.2% in the 3rd quarter. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC now owns 8,054 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $2,044,000 after acquiring an additional 171 shares in the last quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in Progressive by 55.0% in the 3rd quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 1,583 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $402,000 after acquiring an additional 562 shares in the last quarter. Finally, World Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Progressive by 99.0% in the 3rd quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 3,307 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $839,000 after acquiring an additional 1,645 shares in the last quarter. 85.34% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other Progressive news, insider Patrick K. Callahan sold 4,669 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $279.70, for a total transaction of $1,305,919.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 15,191 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,248,922.70. This trade represents a 23.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Jeffrey D. Kelly sold 10,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total value of $2,500,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 27,741 shares of the company's stock, valued at $6,935,250. This represents a 26.50 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 53,749 shares of company stock valued at $14,472,513. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Progressive Price Performance

NYSE:PGR traded up $6.79 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $276.37. 2,690,518 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,633,336. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $274.29 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $258.59. The Progressive Co. has a 52 week low of $201.34 and a 52 week high of $292.99. The company has a quick ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 0.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. The firm has a market cap of $162.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.19, a P/E/G ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.38.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 16th. The insurance provider reported $4.65 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $4.28 by $0.37. Progressive had a return on equity of 33.79% and a net margin of 11.25%. The business had revenue of $22.21 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $21.87 billion. On average, research analysts anticipate that The Progressive Co. will post 14.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.14%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 3rd. Progressive's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 2.70%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on PGR shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Progressive from $267.00 to $287.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Progressive from $275.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Barclays increased their target price on Progressive from $285.00 to $297.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Bank of America raised Progressive from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $312.00 target price for the company in a research note on Monday. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Progressive from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $287.41.

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.