The Progressive Corporation $PGR is Giverny Capital Inc.’s 7th Largest Position

Giverny Capital Inc. reduced its stake in shares of The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) by 1.7% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 520,367 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 8,787 shares during the quarter. Progressive accounts for approximately 4.8% of Giverny Capital Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 7th biggest holding. Giverny Capital Inc.’s holdings in Progressive were worth $138,865,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in PGR. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp purchased a new stake in Progressive during the 2nd quarter valued at about $33,000. Westside Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Progressive by 900.0% during the second quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. now owns 130 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 117 shares during the period. Ransom Advisory Ltd purchased a new stake in Progressive in the first quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Activest Wealth Management increased its holdings in Progressive by 6,350.0% in the 1st quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 129 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $37,000 after buying an additional 127 shares during the period. Finally, Richardson Financial Services Inc. raised its position in Progressive by 1,885.7% during the 2nd quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 139 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $37,000 after buying an additional 132 shares during the last quarter. 85.34% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Progressive

In other Progressive news, insider John Jo Murphy sold 2,218 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $242.10, for a total transaction of $536,977.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 43,506 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,532,802.60. This represents a 4.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Patrick K. Callahan sold 6,420 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $242.22, for a total transaction of $1,555,052.40. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 15,192 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,679,806.24. This trade represents a 29.71% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 43,332 shares of company stock worth $10,564,558 in the last quarter. 0.34% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently commented on PGR shares. Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of Progressive from $312.00 to $301.38 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 16th. Raymond James Financial lowered their price target on shares of Progressive from $305.00 to $265.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 17th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on Progressive from $268.00 to $261.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Progressive in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Wolfe Research assumed coverage on Progressive in a research report on Monday, September 15th. They set a “peer perform” rating for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Progressive has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $266.52.

Progressive Price Performance

Shares of Progressive stock opened at $228.63 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $134.07 billion, a PE ratio of 12.54, a P/E/G ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 0.29. The Progressive Corporation has a twelve month low of $199.90 and a twelve month high of $292.99. The company has a quick ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 0.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $227.31 and a 200 day moving average price of $246.74.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 15th. The insurance provider reported $4.45 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $5.04 by ($0.59). The business had revenue of $21.38 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $21.64 billion. Progressive had a net margin of 12.57% and a return on equity of 33.88%. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $3.58 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that The Progressive Corporation will post 14.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.