Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd Sells 1,132 Shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd trimmed its holdings in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 8.4% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 12,293 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 1,132 shares during the quarter. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd’s holdings in Progressive were worth $2,948,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PGR. Webster Bank N. A. bought a new stake in Progressive in the fourth quarter worth approximately $26,000. Hager Investment Management Services LLC bought a new stake in Progressive in the fourth quarter worth approximately $28,000. Atlantic Edge Private Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Progressive by 54.7% in the fourth quarter. Atlantic Edge Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 116 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Progressive by 3,000.0% during the 4th quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 124 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 120 shares during the period. Finally, Atala Financial Inc bought a new stake in shares of Progressive during the 4th quarter worth $32,000. 85.34% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently issued reports on PGR. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on shares of Progressive from $273.00 to $267.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, December 16th. HSBC downgraded shares of 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. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Progressive from $264.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 13th. Hsbc Global Res downgraded shares of Progressive from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Progressive from $251.00 to $256.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $281.76.

Progressive Trading Down 2.9 %

Shares of PGR stock opened at $282.64 on Wednesday. The Progressive Co. has a 52-week low of $201.34 and a 52-week high of $292.99. The stock has a market cap of $165.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.63, a P/E/G ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a current ratio of 0.31. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $259.99 and a 200-day moving average of $254.57.

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

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.14%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 3rd. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 2.78%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 282,958 shares in the company, valued at $67,530,756.28. This trade represents a 3.41 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Susan Patricia Griffith sold 9,066 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $242.10, for a total transaction of $2,194,878.60. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 473,736 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $114,691,485.60. This trade represents a 1.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 65,495 shares of company stock worth $16,668,034 in the last quarter. 0.34% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.