Royal London Asset Management Ltd. Sells 270,147 Shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Royal London Asset Management Ltd. reduced its stake in shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 13.8% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,680,501 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 270,147 shares during the period. Progressive comprises approximately 1.0% of Royal London Asset Management Ltd.’s portfolio, making the stock its 16th biggest position. Royal London Asset Management Ltd.’s holdings in Progressive were worth $426,444,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Reynders McVeigh Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Progressive during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $279,000. Morse Asset Management Inc bought a new stake in Progressive during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $55,000. Motley Fool Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in Progressive during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $5,984,000. New Vernon Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Progressive by 36.4% during the 3rd quarter. New Vernon Investment Management LLC now owns 35,046 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $8,893,000 after purchasing an additional 9,349 shares in the last quarter. Finally, IHT Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Progressive by 55.3% in the third quarter. IHT Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,740 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,204,000 after acquiring an additional 1,687 shares in the last quarter. 85.34% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on PGR shares. BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on Progressive from $239.00 to $237.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Bank of America upped their target price on Progressive from $331.00 to $335.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 18th. Roth Mkm upped their target price on Progressive from $270.00 to $290.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. Hsbc Global Res raised Progressive from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 12th. Finally, TD Cowen upped their target price on Progressive from $197.00 to $237.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 8th. Five 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 MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $269.81.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $268.09, for a total value of $2,680,900.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 292,958 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $78,539,110.22. This represents a 3.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Dyke Kahina Van sold 2,180 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $252.28, for a total transaction of $549,970.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 13,723 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,462,038.44. The trade was a 13.71 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 25,839 shares of company stock worth $6,718,965 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Progressive Trading Down 0.9 %

NYSE:PGR opened at $260.35 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $152.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.92, a P/E/G ratio of 0.73 and a beta of 0.38. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $254.40 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $234.61. The Progressive Co. has a 1 year low of $149.14 and a 1 year high of $270.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a current ratio of 0.30 and a quick ratio of 0.30.

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, topping the consensus estimate of $3.40 by $0.18. The firm had revenue of $19.43 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 13.2 EPS for the current year.

Progressive Company Profile

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.