First Western Trust Bank Lowers Stock Holdings in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

First Western Trust Bank cut its holdings in shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 7.3% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 6,948 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 550 shares during the period. First Western Trust Bank’s holdings in Progressive were worth $1,443,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Progressive by 11.8% in the second quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 455 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $95,000 after acquiring an additional 48 shares in the last quarter. Graypoint LLC increased its position in Progressive by 1.2% during the 2nd quarter. Graypoint LLC now owns 4,202 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $873,000 after purchasing an additional 49 shares during the period. City State Bank raised its stake in shares of Progressive by 8.2% during the 2nd quarter. City State Bank now owns 661 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $137,000 after buying an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. GYL Financial Synergies LLC raised its stake in shares of Progressive by 4.0% during the 2nd quarter. GYL Financial Synergies LLC now owns 1,302 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $270,000 after buying an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Progressive by 2.6% in the 2nd quarter. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. now owns 2,047 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $425,000 after buying an additional 51 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Progressive

In other news, CAO Mariann Wojtkun Marshall sold 650 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.11, for a total transaction of $135,271.50. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 3,981 shares in the company, valued at $828,485.91. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Progressive news, CEO Susan Patricia Griffith sold 43,371 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $214.01, for a total transaction of $9,281,827.71. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 517,105 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $110,665,641.05. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Mariann Wojtkun Marshall sold 650 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.11, for a total transaction of $135,271.50. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 3,981 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $828,485.91. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 147,354 shares of company stock worth $33,502,680. Insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PGR has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on Progressive from $243.00 to $246.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Progressive from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from $230.00 to $262.00 in a report on Thursday, August 15th. HSBC raised shares of Progressive from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $253.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Monday, August 12th. Bank of America increased their target price on shares of Progressive from $294.00 to $312.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Citigroup lowered their price target on Progressive from $232.00 to $225.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $252.24.

Progressive Stock Down 1.7 %

PGR opened at $249.51 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $146.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.54, a PEG ratio of 0.83 and a beta of 0.35. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $224.65 and its 200 day simple moving average is $212.25. The Progressive Co. has a 52 week low of $133.51 and a 52 week high of $254.83. The company has a quick ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 0.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 16th. The insurance provider reported $2.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.04 by $0.61. The company had revenue of $17.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17.54 billion. Progressive had a net margin of 10.17% and a return on equity of 33.01%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 21.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.57 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that The Progressive Co. will post 12.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 3rd will be paid a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 3rd. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.16%. Progressive’s payout ratio is currently 4.09%.

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.