Phoenix Financial Ltd. Sells 12,015 Shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Phoenix Financial Ltd. reduced its position in shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR - Free Report) by 17.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 55,055 shares of the insurance provider's stock after selling 12,015 shares during the quarter. Phoenix Financial Ltd.'s holdings in Progressive were worth $13,192,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Webster Bank N. A. bought a new stake in Progressive during the fourth quarter worth approximately $26,000. Hager Investment Management Services LLC bought a new stake in shares of Progressive during the 4th quarter worth $28,000. Atlantic Edge Private Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Progressive by 54.7% in the 4th quarter. Atlantic Edge Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 116 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Progressive by 3,000.0% in the 4th quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 124 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 120 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Atala Financial Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Progressive during the fourth quarter worth $32,000. 85.34% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Progressive

In other Progressive news, CAO Mariann Wojtkun Marshall sold 585 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $243.29, for a total value of $142,324.65. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 3,983 shares in the company, valued at approximately $969,024.07. This trade represents a 12.81 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $275.94, for a total value of $2,759,400.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 258,024 shares in the company, valued at $71,199,142.56. The trade was a 3.73 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 56,317 shares of company stock worth $14,844,282 over the last three months. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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Progressive Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE PGR traded up $2.60 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $275.78. 3,052,599 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,657,216. The firm has a market capitalization of $161.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.15, a P/E/G ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.38. The Progressive Co. has a one year low of $201.34 and a one year high of $292.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 0.31 and a quick ratio of 0.30. The company's 50 day moving average is $271.85 and its 200 day moving average is $257.20.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The insurance provider reported $4.08 earnings per share (EPS) 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%. On average, research analysts expect that The Progressive Co. will post 14.68 EPS for the current year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd were given a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.15%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 3rd. Progressive's dividend payout ratio is currently 2.78%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on PGR. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price target on Progressive from $300.00 to $288.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on shares of Progressive from $273.00 to $267.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, December 16th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Progressive from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, April 4th. Roth Mkm lifted their price objective on shares of Progressive from $290.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on Progressive from $285.00 to $297.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $283.71.

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.