Sigma Investment Counselors Inc. Sells 448 Shares of The Progressive Corporation $PGR

Sigma Investment Counselors Inc. cut its stake in shares of The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) by 3.9% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 11,038 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 448 shares during the quarter. Sigma Investment Counselors Inc.’s holdings in Progressive were worth $2,946,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in PGR. Baron Silver Stevens Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Progressive in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $306,000. Trust Co. of Oklahoma acquired a new position in shares of Progressive in the 2nd quarter valued at about $439,000. Belmont Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Progressive during the 1st quarter valued at about $580,000. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI grew its stake in Progressive by 87.9% during the first quarter. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI now owns 414,183 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $117,218,000 after purchasing an additional 193,800 shares during the period. Finally, Mitchell Capital Management Co. bought a new stake in Progressive in the second quarter worth approximately $2,721,000. Institutional investors own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Progressive

In related news, insider Patrick K. Callahan sold 6,420 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction on Friday, September 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $242.22, for a total transaction of $1,555,052.40. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 15,192 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,679,806.24. This trade represents a 29.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Susan Patricia Griffith sold 30,659 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $246.06, for a total value of $7,543,953.54. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 476,286 shares in the company, valued at approximately $117,194,933.16. This represents a 6.05% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 128,778 shares of company stock valued at $31,683,756 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Progressive Price Performance

PGR opened at $225.57 on Friday. The Progressive Corporation has a 1 year low of $217.20 and a 1 year high of $292.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a current ratio of 0.32 and a quick ratio of 0.31. The company has a market capitalization of $132.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.37, a P/E/G ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 0.32. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $243.73 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $257.90.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 15th. The insurance provider reported $4.45 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.04 by ($0.59). Progressive had a net margin of 12.57% and a return on equity of 33.88%. The firm had revenue of $21.38 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $21.64 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.58 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that The Progressive Corporation will post 14.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 2nd were issued a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 2nd. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.2%. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio is currently 2.19%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on PGR shares. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on Progressive from $267.00 to $265.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, September 22nd. UBS Group cut their target price on shares of Progressive from $268.00 to $261.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Zacks Research cut shares of Progressive from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, October 10th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Progressive in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Progressive from $301.00 to $303.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 9th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and thirteen have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Progressive currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $274.46.

Progressive Company 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.