Stock Traders Purchase Large Volume of Call Options on Progressive (NYSE:PGR)

The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) saw unusually large options trading on Wednesday. Stock investors bought 133,728 call options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 5,873% compared to the average daily volume of 2,239 call options.

Progressive Stock Performance

NYSE PGR opened at $243.45 on Thursday. Progressive has a 1-year low of $164.16 and a 1-year high of $270.62. The company has a market cap of $142.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.69, a P/E/G ratio of 0.70 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a current ratio of 0.30 and a quick ratio of 0.30. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $251.47 and a two-hundred day moving average of $240.95.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The insurance provider reported $3.58 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.40 by $0.18. Progressive had a net margin of 11.27% and a return on equity of 33.10%. The firm had revenue of $19.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $18.95 billion. As a group, analysts anticipate that Progressive will post 13.2 EPS for the current year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 16th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 9th will be issued a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.16%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio is currently 2.91%.

Insider Transactions at Progressive

In related news, CAO Mariann Wojtkun Marshall sold 191 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction on Friday, January 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $242.10, for a total value of $46,241.10. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 3,982 shares in the company, valued at $964,042.20. This trade represents a 4.58 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Steven Broz sold 2,981 shares of Progressive 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 26,353 shares in the company, valued at $6,618,555.95. This trade represents a 10.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 32,919 shares of company stock valued at $8,222,168. 0.34% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Progressive

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Davis Capital Management purchased a new stake in Progressive in the third quarter valued at approximately $25,000. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. increased its stake in shares of Progressive by 114.1% in the third quarter. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. now owns 137 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 73 shares during the last quarter. Kimelman & Baird LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Progressive in the 2nd quarter valued at about $36,000. Sachetta LLC lifted its stake in Progressive by 34.0% during the second quarter. Sachetta LLC now owns 209 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $45,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Friedenthal Financial acquired a new stake in shares of Progressive during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $49,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have weighed in on PGR. Roth Mkm boosted their target price on Progressive from $270.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $310.00 price target on shares of Progressive in a report on Friday, December 13th. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Progressive from $331.00 to $335.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 18th. Hsbc Global Res cut shares of Progressive from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on Progressive from $262.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $275.00.

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.