Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Sells 39,462 Shares of The Progressive Corporation $PGR

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans cut its position in The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) by 31.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 86,452 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 39,462 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans’ holdings in Progressive were worth $18,583,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in PGR. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund raised its holdings in shares of Progressive by 30.2% in the 3rd quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 102,778 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $25,381,000 after acquiring an additional 23,833 shares during the last quarter. Allstate Corp boosted its stake in Progressive by 1,614.1% during the 3rd quarter. Allstate Corp now owns 21,598 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $5,334,000 after purchasing an additional 20,338 shares during the last quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors increased its holdings in Progressive by 471.3% during the 3rd quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors now owns 22,496 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $5,556,000 after purchasing an additional 18,558 shares in the last quarter. Prospera Financial Services Inc increased its holdings in Progressive by 36.9% during the 3rd quarter. Prospera Financial Services Inc now owns 19,240 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $4,752,000 after purchasing an additional 5,184 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rakuten Investment Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Progressive in the third quarter worth approximately $64,063,000. 85.34% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Progressive Trading Up 2.1%

Shares of Progressive stock opened at $203.91 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $119.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.37, a P/E/G ratio of 5.77 and a beta of 0.31. The Progressive Corporation has a 52-week low of $191.75 and a 52-week high of $289.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 0.27 and a current ratio of 0.27. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $200.89 and its 200 day simple moving average is $210.40.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 15th. The insurance provider reported $4.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.67 by $0.13. Progressive had a net margin of 12.92% and a return on equity of 33.47%. The business had revenue of $22.19 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $23.51 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $4.37 EPS. Progressive’s revenue was up 6.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that The Progressive Corporation will post 16.4 EPS for the current year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 2nd will be issued a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 2nd. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.2%. Progressive’s payout ratio is presently 2.03%.

Insider Activity at Progressive

In other Progressive news, CIO Jonathan S. Bauer sold 2,266 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $203.05, for a total transaction of $460,111.30. Following the completion of the sale, the executive directly owned 26,250 shares in the company, valued at $5,330,062.50. The trade was a 7.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Maribel Pumarejo sold 739 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $203.25, for a total transaction of $150,201.75. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 6,933 shares of company stock valued at $1,441,564 in the last ninety days. 0.32% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently commented on PGR. Zacks Research raised Progressive from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 24th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their target price on shares of Progressive from $227.00 to $210.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 7th. Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of Progressive from $300.60 to $261.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Barclays set a $247.00 price target on shares of Progressive in a research report on Wednesday, March 18th. Finally, Mizuho reduced their price objective on shares of Progressive from $235.00 to $223.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 20th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $238.39.

About Progressive

Progressive Corporation is a large U.S.-based property and casualty insurer that primarily underwrites personal auto insurance along with a broad suite of related products. Its offerings include coverage for private passenger automobiles, commercial auto fleets, motorcycles, boats and recreational vehicles, as well as homeowners, renters, umbrella and other specialty P&C products. Progressive also provides claims handling, risk management and related services to individual and commercial policyholders.

The company distributes its products through a mix of direct channels—online and by phone—and an extensive independent agent network.