Magnetar Financial LLC Acquires New Position in The Progressive Corporation $PGR

Magnetar Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm bought 28,344 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $7,564,000.

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

Insider Activity at Progressive

In other news, insider Steven Broz sold 1,345 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $220.00, for a total value of $295,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 29,043 shares in the company, valued at $6,389,460. This trade represents a 4.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Susan Patricia Griffith sold 30,659 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $246.06, for a total transaction of $7,543,953.54. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 476,286 shares in the company, valued at $117,194,933.16. This represents a 6.05% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 41,987 shares of company stock valued at $10,257,508 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Progressive Trading Up 0.4%

Shares of PGR stock opened at $226.99 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 1 year low of $199.90 and a 1 year high of $292.99. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $228.90 and a two-hundred day moving average of $248.69. The firm has a market capitalization of $133.11 billion, a PE ratio of 12.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 0.29.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 15th. The insurance provider reported $4.45 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.04 by ($0.59). The business had revenue of $21.38 billion for 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 last year, the business posted $3.58 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that The Progressive Corporation will post 14.68 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently weighed in on PGR. Morgan Stanley set a $214.00 price objective on shares of Progressive and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Progressive from $301.00 to $303.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 9th. Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on Progressive from $275.00 to $273.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 1st. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Progressive in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Zacks Research cut Progressive from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, October 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Progressive currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $266.52.

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.