Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt Increases Stock Position in The Progressive Corporation $PGR

Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt boosted its position in shares of The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) by 64.3% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 12,780 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,000 shares during the period. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt’s holdings in Progressive were worth $3,410,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of PGR. Integrated Advisors Network LLC raised its holdings in Progressive by 1.0% in the 1st quarter. Integrated Advisors Network LLC now owns 3,808 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,078,000 after purchasing an additional 36 shares during the period. Rise Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Progressive by 7.4% during the first quarter. Rise Advisors LLC now owns 521 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $147,000 after purchasing an additional 36 shares in the last quarter. Pines Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Progressive by 3.0% during the first quarter. Pines Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,287 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $335,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares in the last quarter. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Progressive by 2.0% in the first quarter. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,940 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $549,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the period. Finally, Beacon Financial Group increased its stake in shares of Progressive by 1.1% during the first quarter. Beacon Financial Group now owns 3,659 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,036,000 after purchasing an additional 39 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Progressive

In other Progressive news, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 16,664 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.24, for a total transaction of $4,153,335.36. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 228,024 shares in the company, valued at $56,832,701.76. This trade represents a 6.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Patrick K. Callahan sold 6,232 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the insider owned 27,844 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,742,703.04. This represents a 18.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 130,062 shares of company stock worth $32,217,635. Insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Progressive Trading Down 0.7%

Shares of PGR opened at $241.93 on Friday. The Progressive Corporation has a 12-month low of $228.54 and a 12-month high of $292.99. The firm has a market capitalization of $141.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.63, a P/E/G ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 0.32. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $245.88 and a 200 day moving average price of $263.75. The company has a current ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 0.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21.

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 net margin of 12.66% and a return on equity of 35.37%. Progressive’s revenue was up 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.48 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that The Progressive Corporation will post 14.68 EPS for the current year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently issued reports on PGR. Bank of America lowered their price objective on Progressive from $347.00 to $343.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. BMO Capital Markets set a $252.00 price target on Progressive in a research note on Thursday. Evercore ISI downgraded Progressive from an “outperform” rating to an “in-line” rating and set a $275.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on shares of Progressive in a research note on Monday. They set a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reissued an “equal weight” rating and issued a $265.00 price target (down from $327.00) on shares of Progressive in a research note on Thursday. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Progressive has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $279.44.

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.