Meridian Wealth Management LLC Sells 169 Shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Meridian Wealth Management LLC cut its holdings in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 2.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,664 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 169 shares during the period. Meridian Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Progressive were worth $1,836,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its position in Progressive by 98.2% in the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 789 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $189,000 after buying an additional 391 shares in the last quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC increased its position in Progressive by 90.9% in the 3rd quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 7,813 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,983,000 after buying an additional 3,720 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its position in Progressive by 7.0% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 5,067,924 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,286,036,000 after buying an additional 330,667 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its position in Progressive by 2,262.4% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 433,999 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $103,990,000 after buying an additional 415,628 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Signal Advisors Wealth LLC increased its position in Progressive by 42.3% in the 4th quarter. Signal Advisors Wealth LLC now owns 11,889 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,849,000 after buying an additional 3,534 shares in the last quarter. 85.34% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Progressive Price Performance

Shares of NYSE PGR opened at $284.95 on Tuesday. The Progressive Co. has a twelve month low of $187.32 and a twelve month high of $285.28. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $251.13 and its 200-day moving average price is $251.57. The company has a market capitalization of $166.93 billion, a PE ratio of 19.79, a PEG ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a quick ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 0.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The insurance provider reported $4.08 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.44 by $0.64. Progressive had a return on equity of 33.79% and a net margin of 11.25%. On average, equities analysts anticipate that The Progressive Co. will post 14.68 EPS for the current year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 16th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 9th were paid a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.14%. Progressive’s payout ratio is 2.78%.

Insider Activity at Progressive

In related news, insider Andrew J. Quigg sold 681 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $242.10, for a total value of $164,870.10. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 33,612 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,137,465.20. This represents a 1.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $238.66, for a total transaction of $2,386,600.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 282,958 shares in the company, valued at $67,530,756.28. The trade was a 3.41 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 56,361 shares of company stock worth $14,102,075. Insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently commented on PGR shares. BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on Progressive from $273.00 to $267.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Hsbc Global Res lowered Progressive from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. TD Cowen boosted their target price on Progressive from $197.00 to $237.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Progressive from $313.00 to $317.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, HSBC lowered Progressive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $267.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $277.59.

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.