Next Century Growth Investors LLC Buys 8,402 Shares of The Progressive Corporation $PGR

Next Century Growth Investors LLC grew its holdings in shares of The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) by 76.2% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 19,434 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 8,402 shares during the period. Next Century Growth Investors LLC’s holdings in Progressive were worth $5,500,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp grew its stake in shares of Progressive by 5.2% during the first quarter. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp now owns 38,058 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $10,771,000 after buying an additional 1,880 shares during the last quarter. Wealth Preservation Advisors LLC bought a new position in Progressive in the first quarter worth approximately $457,000. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG grew its stake in Progressive by 14.5% in the first quarter. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG now owns 45,730 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $12,942,000 after purchasing an additional 5,802 shares in the last quarter. Transamerica Financial Advisors LLC grew its stake in Progressive by 2,000.0% in the first quarter. Transamerica Financial Advisors LLC now owns 483 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $137,000 after purchasing an additional 460 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CreativeOne Wealth LLC grew its stake in Progressive by 56.1% in the first quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC now owns 2,642 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $748,000 after purchasing an additional 950 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Progressive Stock Performance

NYSE PGR opened at $245.01 on Thursday. The Progressive Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $228.54 and a fifty-two week high of $292.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 0.31 and a current ratio of 0.31. The firm has a market capitalization of $143.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.80, a PEG ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 0.33. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $250.25 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $266.20.

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

Progressive Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Patrick K. Callahan sold 6,232 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.96, for a total value of $1,557,750.72. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 21,612 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,402,135.52. The trade was a 22.38% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider John Jo Murphy sold 2,218 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.78, for a total value of $556,230.04. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 45,724 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,466,664.72. The trade was a 4.63% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 108,351 shares of company stock worth $27,003,746 in the last quarter. 0.34% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently issued reports on PGR. Wall Street Zen cut Progressive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, July 18th. Evercore ISI cut 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. Citigroup began coverage on Progressive in a research note on Wednesday, August 13th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $312.00 price objective on the stock. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on Progressive from $281.00 to $279.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 21st. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their target price on Progressive from $290.00 to $268.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 17th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $284.18.

About Progressive

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.