Bank of Marin Reduces Stake in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Bank of Marin cut its stake in shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 32.6% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 1,530 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 740 shares during the quarter. Bank of Marin’s holdings in Progressive were worth $388,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Empowered Funds LLC raised its holdings in Progressive by 147.2% during the 3rd quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 56,393 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $14,310,000 after buying an additional 33,576 shares during the period. Empirical Finance LLC increased its position in Progressive by 2.3% during the third quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 20,115 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $5,104,000 after acquiring an additional 449 shares during the last quarter. Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Progressive by 355.5% in the third quarter. Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors LLC now owns 8,654 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,196,000 after acquiring an additional 6,754 shares during the period. Dearborn Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Progressive by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Dearborn Partners LLC now owns 6,666 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,691,000 after acquiring an additional 152 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CIBC Asset Management Inc boosted its stake in shares of Progressive by 9.6% during the 3rd quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 89,358 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $22,675,000 after purchasing an additional 7,797 shares during the period. 85.34% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Susan Patricia Griffith sold 43,370 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $252.20, for a total value of $10,937,914.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 473,735 shares in the company, valued at $119,475,967. This trade represents a 8.39 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Steven Broz sold 6,122 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $235.19, for a total value of $1,439,833.18. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 32,316 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,600,400.04. This represents a 15.93 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 65,331 shares of company stock worth $16,415,812 in the last 90 days. 0.34% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PGR has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on Progressive from $257.00 to $295.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. StockNews.com cut Progressive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Progressive from $281.00 to $282.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Progressive from $300.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on shares of Progressive from $250.00 to $252.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 15th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $269.56.

Progressive Stock Up 0.8 %

Shares of NYSE:PGR traded up $1.95 on Friday, reaching $259.45. The company had a trading volume of 404,574 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,451,124. The firm has a market capitalization of $151.99 billion, a PE ratio of 18.86, a PEG ratio of 0.73 and a beta of 0.36. The company has a current ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. The Progressive Co. has a 52-week low of $149.14 and a 52-week high of $263.85. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $252.08 and its 200-day simple moving average is $229.48.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The insurance provider reported $3.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.40 by $0.18. The company had revenue of $19.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $18.95 billion. Progressive had a return on equity of 33.10% and a net margin of 11.27%. As a group, analysts expect that The Progressive Co. will post 13.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.