United Services Automobile Association Reduces Stock Holdings in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

United Services Automobile Association reduced its stake in shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 17.2% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 13,805 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 2,869 shares during the period. United Services Automobile Association’s holdings in Progressive were worth $3,503,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp raised its stake in Progressive by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 24,683,807 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $6,263,763,000 after purchasing an additional 315,411 shares during the period. FMR LLC increased its stake in Progressive by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 10,518,615 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,669,204,000 after acquiring an additional 170,618 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its stake 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 worth $1,286,036,000 after acquiring an additional 330,667 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc increased its stake in Progressive by 1.9% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 4,922,743 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,022,507,000 after acquiring an additional 92,212 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC increased its stake in Progressive by 21.6% in the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 4,749,628 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,205,266,000 after acquiring an additional 842,109 shares during the last quarter. 85.34% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently weighed in on PGR. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Progressive from $242.00 to $251.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Progressive from $300.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Progressive from $281.00 to $282.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on Progressive from $280.00 to $290.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Roth Mkm upped their target price on Progressive from $270.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. Five equities research 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 company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Progressive currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $269.81.

Progressive Trading Down 2.6 %

Shares of NYSE:PGR opened at $254.56 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $254.64 and its 200 day moving average is $235.31. The Progressive Co. has a 1 year low of $149.14 and a 1 year high of $270.62. The firm has a market capitalization of $149.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.50, a P/E/G ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 0.38. 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 announced 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. Progressive had a return on equity of 33.10% and a net margin of 11.27%. The company had revenue of $19.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $18.95 billion. On average, research analysts predict that The Progressive Co. will post 13.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Progressive

In other news, insider Patrick K. Callahan sold 7,696 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $255.21, for a total value of $1,964,096.16. Following the sale, the insider now owns 15,189 shares in the company, valued at $3,876,384.69. This represents a 33.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Steven Broz sold 2,981 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $251.15, for a total value of $748,678.15. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 26,353 shares in the company, valued at $6,618,555.95. The trade was a 10.16 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 25,839 shares of company stock valued at $6,718,965 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Progressive 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.