Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. Cuts Stock Position in The Progressive Corporation $PGR

Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) by 27.4% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 377,903 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 142,445 shares during the quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. owned about 0.06% of Progressive worth $106,950,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in PGR. State of Alaska Department of Revenue boosted its position in Progressive by 2.7% in the 1st quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 68,644 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $19,426,000 after buying an additional 1,800 shares during the period. Belmont Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Progressive in the first quarter valued at $580,000. QRG Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Progressive by 36.4% in the first quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 126,826 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $35,893,000 after purchasing an additional 33,864 shares during the period. MEAG MUNICH ERGO Kapitalanlagegesellschaft mbH boosted its holdings in Progressive by 498.5% in the first quarter. MEAG MUNICH ERGO Kapitalanlagegesellschaft mbH now owns 5,057 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,431,000 after purchasing an additional 4,212 shares during the period. Finally, Hennessy Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Progressive during the 1st quarter worth $3,141,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Lori A. Niederst sold 8,063 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.18, for a total value of $2,017,201.34. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 39,040 shares in the company, valued at $9,767,027.20. This represents a 17.12% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider John Jo Murphy sold 2,218 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.78, for a total transaction of $556,230.04. Following the sale, the insider owned 45,724 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,466,664.72. This represents a 4.63% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 139,010 shares of company stock valued at $34,547,699 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Progressive Price Performance

Shares of PGR opened at $248.87 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 0.31 and a quick ratio of 0.31. The Progressive Corporation has a 1-year low of $228.54 and a 1-year high of $292.99. The stock has a market cap of $145.89 billion, a PE ratio of 14.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 0.32. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $248.38 and a 200 day moving average price of $265.72.

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

Progressive Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 2nd will be given a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 2nd. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.2%. Progressive’s payout ratio is 2.25%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have issued reports on PGR. Cantor Fitzgerald raised Progressive to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 13th. UBS Group cut their target price on shares of Progressive from $280.00 to $268.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, July 21st. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Progressive from $265.00 to $267.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of Progressive from $330.00 to $327.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 21st. Finally, Citigroup restated a “buy” rating on shares of Progressive in a report on Friday, August 29th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $284.18.

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.