Gryphon Financial Partners LLC Lowers Stake in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Gryphon Financial Partners LLC lowered its holdings in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR - Free Report) by 33.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,863 shares of the insurance provider's stock after selling 940 shares during the quarter. Gryphon Financial Partners LLC's holdings in Progressive were worth $446,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its stake in shares of Progressive by 98.2% in the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 789 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $189,000 after purchasing an additional 391 shares during the last quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC raised its position in Progressive by 90.9% in the 3rd quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 7,813 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $1,983,000 after buying an additional 3,720 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its stake in Progressive by 7.0% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 5,067,924 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $1,286,036,000 after acquiring an additional 330,667 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its stake in Progressive by 2,262.4% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 433,999 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $103,990,000 after acquiring an additional 415,628 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Signal Advisors Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in Progressive by 42.3% during the 4th quarter. Signal Advisors Wealth LLC now owns 11,889 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $2,849,000 after acquiring an additional 3,534 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 85.34% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Progressive

In other news, CEO Susan Patricia Griffith sold 9,066 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, January 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $242.10, for a total value of $2,194,878.60. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 473,736 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $114,691,485.60. This represents a 1.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Andrew J. Quigg sold 681 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction 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 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 56,361 shares of company stock valued at $14,102,075. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently weighed in on PGR. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Progressive from $313.00 to $317.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their target price on shares of Progressive from $295.00 to $294.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 10th. StockNews.com raised Progressive from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Raymond James upgraded Progressive from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $305.00 price target on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 26th. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on Progressive from $261.00 to $264.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $277.59.

Progressive Stock Performance

PGR traded down $1.75 on Wednesday, hitting $281.44. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,391,641 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,606,649. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $251.93 and its 200-day simple moving average is $251.90. 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 Progressive Co. has a 12 month low of $191.00 and a 12 month high of $287.49. The firm has a market cap of $164.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.42.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The insurance provider reported $4.08 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.44 by $0.64. Progressive had a return on equity of 33.79% and a net margin of 11.25%. Analysts forecast that The Progressive Co. will post 14.68 EPS for the current year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 16th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 9th were given a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.14%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. Progressive's dividend payout ratio is presently 2.78%.

About Progressive

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.