Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI Boosts Stock Holdings in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI increased its position in shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 11.0% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 14,381 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,421 shares during the quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI’s holdings in Progressive were worth $3,649,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PGR. Legal & General Group Plc grew its position in shares of Progressive by 1.9% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 4,922,743 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,022,507,000 after acquiring an additional 92,212 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC grew its holdings in Progressive by 21.6% in the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 4,749,628 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,205,266,000 after purchasing an additional 842,109 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. increased its position in shares of Progressive by 3.0% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 2,392,773 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $497,003,000 after buying an additional 69,709 shares in the last quarter. Swiss National Bank raised its stake in shares of Progressive by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 1,738,400 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $441,136,000 after buying an additional 4,400 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Progressive by 20.3% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,467,191 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $304,775,000 after buying an additional 247,144 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Progressive Trading Up 2.3 %

Shares of PGR stock opened at $262.90 on Friday. 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 twelve month low of $149.14 and a twelve month high of $263.85. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $252.85 and its 200-day moving average price is $231.17. The stock has a market cap of $154.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.11, a PEG ratio of 0.71 and a beta of 0.36.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The insurance provider reported $3.58 earnings per share 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 net margin of 11.27% and a return on equity of 33.10%. As a group, equities analysts predict that The Progressive Co. will post 13.09 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently commented on PGR shares. BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on shares of Progressive from $239.00 to $237.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of Progressive from $262.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. HSBC raised shares of Progressive from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $253.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 12th. Barclays increased their target price on Progressive from $267.00 to $277.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, StockNews.com raised Progressive from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $269.81.

Insider Activity at Progressive

In other news, insider Patrick K. Callahan sold 7,696 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $255.21, for a total value of $1,964,096.16. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 15,189 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,876,384.69. The trade was a 33.63 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Steven Broz sold 2,982 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $260.00, for a total transaction of $775,320.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 29,334 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,626,840. This represents a 9.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 59,209 shares of company stock worth $14,975,979. Insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

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.