Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A. Acquires 18,181 Shares of The Progressive Corporation $PGR

Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A. raised its stake in shares of The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) by 24.3% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 93,039 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 18,181 shares during the period. Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A.’s holdings in Progressive were worth $24,828,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in shares of Progressive in the first quarter worth $1,473,180,000. GQG Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Progressive by 61.4% during the 1st quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 8,346,133 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,362,039,000 after purchasing an additional 3,174,632 shares during the period. C WorldWide Group Holding A S raised its holdings in shares of Progressive by 12,110.3% in the first quarter. C WorldWide Group Holding A S now owns 1,248,628 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $353,374,000 after buying an additional 1,238,402 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P. increased its position in shares of Progressive by 15.2% during the first quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 8,263,157 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,338,556,000 after acquiring an additional 1,091,828 shares during the period. Finally, Axiom Investors LLC DE bought a new stake in Progressive during the 1st quarter valued at $194,557,000. 85.34% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Progressive

In related news, insider John Jo Murphy sold 2,218 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 19th. The stock was 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 $10,532,802.60. The trade was a 4.85% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Susan Patricia Griffith sold 30,659 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $246.06, for a total transaction of $7,543,953.54. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 476,286 shares in the company, valued at $117,194,933.16. This represents a 6.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 51,782 shares of company stock valued at $12,708,788 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Progressive Price Performance

Shares of NYSE PGR opened at $222.95 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a quick ratio of 0.31 and a current ratio of 0.32. The Progressive Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $199.90 and a fifty-two week high of $292.99. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $231.39 and its 200-day simple moving average is $250.90. The firm has a market capitalization of $130.74 billion, a PE ratio of 12.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 0.29.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 15th. The insurance provider reported $4.45 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.04 by ($0.59). The firm had revenue of $21.38 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $21.64 billion. Progressive had a net margin of 12.57% and a return on equity of 33.88%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.58 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that The Progressive Corporation will post 14.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently commented on the stock. Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on shares of Progressive from $275.00 to $273.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 1st. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Progressive in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Cantor Fitzgerald raised Progressive to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 13th. Barclays lowered their price objective on Progressive from $271.00 to $257.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, October 20th. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $214.00 price target on shares of Progressive and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 20th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Progressive has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $269.90.

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.