Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA Sells 334,696 Shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA reduced its position in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 2.3% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 14,111,843 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 334,696 shares during the period. Progressive makes up 1.1% of Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 13th largest holding. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA owned about 2.41% of Progressive worth $3,581,021,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of PGR. Seven Eight Capital LP purchased a new stake in shares of Progressive during the first quarter valued at approximately $568,000. Bessemer Group Inc. grew its position in Progressive by 19.8% during the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 14,940 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $3,090,000 after buying an additional 2,467 shares during the period. Crewe Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Progressive during the first quarter worth about $76,000. CreativeOne Wealth LLC bought a new stake in Progressive in the first quarter worth about $220,000. Finally, EP Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Progressive by 4.1% in the first quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,579 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $327,000 after acquiring an additional 62 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Progressive

In other news, CEO Susan Patricia Griffith sold 43,370 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $252.20, for a total value of $10,937,914.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 473,735 shares in the company, valued at approximately $119,475,967. This trade represents a 8.39 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Steven Broz sold 2,981 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $251.15, for a total value of $748,678.15. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 26,353 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,618,555.95. This represents a 10.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 59,209 shares of company stock valued at $14,975,979 over the last 90 days. 0.34% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PGR has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on Progressive from $250.00 to $252.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. StockNews.com raised Progressive from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. HSBC raised shares of Progressive from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $253.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Monday, August 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Progressive from $242.00 to $251.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on shares of Progressive from $262.00 to $280.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $269.81.

Progressive Stock Up 1.0 %

Shares of PGR opened at $256.99 on Thursday. The Progressive Co. has a 12-month low of $149.14 and a 12-month high of $263.85. 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 company has a market capitalization of $150.54 billion, a PE ratio of 18.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.71 and a beta of 0.36. The business’s 50 day moving average is $252.58 and its 200 day moving average is $230.94.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last issued 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. Progressive had a return on equity of 33.10% and a net margin of 11.27%. The firm had revenue of $19.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $18.95 billion. Research analysts expect that The Progressive Co. will post 13.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.