Savant Capital LLC Grows Stake in The Progressive Corporation $PGR

Savant Capital LLC grew its stake in shares of The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) by 4.3% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 18,531 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 761 shares during the period. Savant Capital LLC’s holdings in Progressive were worth $4,945,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. New York Life Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Progressive by 1.4% in the 2nd quarter. New York Life Investment Management LLC now owns 87,760 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $23,420,000 after purchasing an additional 1,192 shares in the last quarter. Baron Silver Stevens Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Progressive during the second quarter valued at $306,000. Wakefield Asset Management LLLP grew its holdings in Progressive by 199.0% during the second quarter. Wakefield Asset Management LLLP now owns 9,411 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,511,000 after purchasing an additional 6,263 shares during the period. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al purchased a new stake in Progressive in the second quarter worth about $13,583,000. Finally, Whalen Wealth Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Progressive in the second quarter worth about $647,000. Institutional investors own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Susan Patricia Griffith sold 30,659 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $246.06, for a total transaction 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Patrick K. Callahan sold 6,420 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $242.22, for a total transaction of $1,555,052.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 15,192 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,679,806.24. This trade represents a 29.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 58,500 shares of company stock valued at $14,430,089 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Progressive Price Performance

PGR stock opened at $217.16 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $127.34 billion, a PE ratio of 11.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 0.29. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $233.53 and its 200-day moving average price is $252.05. The Progressive Corporation has a one year low of $199.90 and a one year high of $292.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a quick ratio of 0.31 and a current ratio of 0.32.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 15th. The insurance provider reported $4.45 earnings per share (EPS) 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 company had revenue of $21.38 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $21.64 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.58 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that The Progressive Corporation will post 14.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on PGR shares. UBS Group cut their price objective on Progressive from $268.00 to $261.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Raymond James Financial dropped their price target on shares of Progressive from $305.00 to $265.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 17th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on shares of Progressive from $262.00 to $246.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Progressive from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, October 10th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of Progressive from $266.00 to $246.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 16th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Progressive has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $269.90.

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.