Eurizon Capital SGR S.p.A. Makes New Investment in The Progressive Corporation $PGR

Eurizon Capital SGR S.p.A. purchased a new position in shares of The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 814,073 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $185,761,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Klingman & Associates LLC raised its stake in shares of Progressive by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Klingman & Associates LLC now owns 2,927 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $667,000 after acquiring an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. Wealthstream Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Progressive by 4.6% in the third quarter. Wealthstream Advisors Inc. now owns 1,111 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $274,000 after acquiring an additional 49 shares during the last quarter. Revisor Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Progressive by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. Revisor Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,902 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $395,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Cullen Investment Group LTD. raised its stake in shares of Progressive by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Cullen Investment Group LTD. now owns 7,463 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,606,000 after acquiring an additional 52 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pines Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Progressive by 3.9% in the fourth quarter. Pines Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,399 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $319,000 after acquiring an additional 52 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on PGR. Jefferies Financial Group cut their target price on shares of Progressive from $216.00 to $215.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 24th. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $259.00 target price on shares of Progressive in a research note on Monday, March 2nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Progressive in a research note on Friday, May 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $225.00 target price on shares of Progressive in a research note on Monday, February 23rd. Finally, Barclays set a $247.00 target price on shares of Progressive in a research note on Wednesday, March 18th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Progressive presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $238.11.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Carl G. Joyce sold 270 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction on Friday, March 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $206.50, for a total transaction of $55,755.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 558 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $115,227. This trade represents a 32.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Karen Bailo sold 3,517 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $212.00, for a total transaction of $745,604.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 32,348 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,857,776. This represents a 9.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 3,928 shares of company stock worth $831,251. Insiders own 0.32% of the company’s stock.

Progressive Price Performance

PGR opened at $190.27 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $199.66 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $209.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 0.27 and a current ratio of 0.27. The Progressive Corporation has a 52 week low of $189.20 and a 52 week high of $289.96. The firm has a market capitalization of $111.18 billion, a PE ratio of 9.67, a P/E/G ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 0.31.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 15th. The insurance provider reported $4.80 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.67 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $22.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $23.51 billion. Progressive had a net margin of 12.92% and a return on equity of 33.47%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $4.37 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that The Progressive Corporation will post 16.36 earnings per share for the current year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 2nd will be given a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 2nd. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 2.03%.

About Progressive

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.