The Progressive Corporation $PGR Shares Sold by OFI Invest Asset Management

OFI Invest Asset Management lowered its stake in shares of The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) by 29.1% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 119,252 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 49,040 shares during the period. OFI Invest Asset Management’s holdings in Progressive were worth $26,051,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of PGR. Cidel Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in Progressive by 20.1% in the 2nd quarter. Cidel Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,845 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $621,000 after buying an additional 476 shares in the last quarter. Gallacher Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Progressive by 8.5% in the 2nd quarter. Gallacher Capital Management LLC now owns 1,995 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $436,000 after buying an additional 156 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Planning Group LLC increased its stake in Progressive by 8.1% during the 2nd quarter. Strategic Planning Group LLC now owns 91,668 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $20,025,000 after buying an additional 6,890 shares in the last quarter. Brown Miller Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Progressive by 2.4% during the 2nd quarter. Brown Miller Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,365 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $517,000 after buying an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC raised its holdings in shares of Progressive by 12.1% during the second quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 622 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $136,000 after acquiring an additional 67 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Progressive Trading Up 0.3%

PGR opened at $209.48 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 0.29 and a quick ratio of 0.29. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $214.36 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $206.47. The Progressive Corporation has a 1-year low of $189.20 and a 1-year high of $254.93. The firm has a market capitalization of $121.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 0.27.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 15th. The insurance provider reported $5.67 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.64 by $1.03. The business had revenue of $23.61 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $19.49 billion. Progressive had a return on equity of 32.92% and a net margin of 12.84%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $5.40 EPS. Analysts expect that The Progressive Corporation will post 17.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 9th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 1st will be given a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 1st. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.2%. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 2.01%.

Insider Activity at Progressive

In other news, insider John Jo Murphy sold 8,124 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction on Monday, July 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $212.70, for a total transaction of $1,727,974.80. Following the transaction, the insider owned 41,291 shares in the company, valued at $8,782,595.70. The trade was a 16.44% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Jeffrey D. Kelly sold 7,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $216.33, for a total transaction of $1,514,310.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 22,546 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,877,376.18. The trade was a 23.69% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 74,885 shares of company stock valued at $15,880,459 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.32% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on PGR shares. William Blair restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Progressive in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. Evercore set a $240.00 price target on Progressive in a research report on Friday, July 10th. HSBC increased their price objective on Progressive from $214.00 to $221.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, July 6th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Progressive in a report on Monday, August 3rd. Finally, UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Progressive from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 30th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $235.00.

Progressive Profile

Progressive Corporation is a large U.S.-based property and casualty insurer that primarily underwrites personal auto insurance along with a broad suite of related products. Its offerings include coverage for private passenger automobiles, commercial auto fleets, motorcycles, boats and recreational vehicles, as well as homeowners, renters, umbrella and other specialty P&C products. Progressive also provides claims handling, risk management and related services to individual and commercial policyholders.

The company distributes its products through a mix of direct channels—online and by phone—and an extensive independent agent network.