The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) Shares Acquired by Prudential PLC

Prudential PLC increased its stake in shares of The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) by 33.6% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 89,861 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 22,607 shares during the quarter. Prudential PLC’s holdings in Progressive were worth $25,432,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of PGR. Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Progressive by 7.6% in the 1st quarter. Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 217,830 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $61,520,000 after purchasing an additional 15,302 shares during the last quarter. Capital Planning Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Progressive by 0.6% in the first quarter. Capital Planning Advisors LLC now owns 33,018 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $9,344,000 after acquiring an additional 189 shares during the period. Trust Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Progressive by 0.9% during the first quarter. Trust Asset Management LLC now owns 6,735 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,906,000 after acquiring an additional 63 shares during the last quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board increased its holdings in shares of Progressive by 3.0% in the 1st quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 156,599 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $44,319,000 after acquiring an additional 4,616 shares during the period. Finally, Todd Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Progressive by 6.6% in the first quarter. Todd Asset Management LLC now owns 263,123 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $74,467,000 after buying an additional 16,380 shares during the last quarter. 85.34% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PGR has been the topic of a number of research reports. UBS Group lowered their price target on Progressive from $280.00 to $268.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, July 21st. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Progressive from $328.00 to $333.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, June 20th. Evercore ISI cut shares of Progressive from an “outperform” rating to an “in-line” rating and set a $275.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on shares of Progressive from $288.00 to $281.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, July 18th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of Progressive from $275.00 to $265.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $283.94.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Progressive news, insider Patrick K. Callahan sold 6,232 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, July 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $242.16, for a total transaction of $1,509,141.12. Following the sale, the insider owned 27,844 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,742,703.04. This represents a 18.29% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider John Jo Murphy sold 2,218 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.24, for a total value of $552,814.32. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 47,942 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,949,064.08. The trade was a 4.42% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 104,250 shares of company stock valued at $26,332,348. 0.33% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Progressive Stock Performance

NYSE PGR opened at $244.83 on Tuesday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $255.91 and a 200 day moving average price of $266.49. The company has a market capitalization of $143.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.79, a PEG ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 0.33. The Progressive Corporation has a 1-year low of $220.33 and a 1-year high of $292.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 0.31 and a quick ratio of 0.31.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 16th. The insurance provider reported $4.88 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.43 by $0.45. The company had revenue of $20.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $20.39 billion. Progressive had a return on equity of 35.37% and a net margin of 12.66%. Progressive’s revenue was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.48 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that The Progressive Corporation will post 14.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 2nd will be issued a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.2%. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 2.25%.

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.