ING Groep NV Raises Stock Holdings in The Progressive Corporation $PGR

ING Groep NV grew its stake in The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) by 2,743.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 27,066 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 26,114 shares during the quarter. ING Groep NV’s holdings in Progressive were worth $6,163,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund increased its stake in Progressive by 30.2% in the third quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 102,778 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $25,381,000 after purchasing an additional 23,833 shares during the last quarter. Allstate Corp increased its stake in Progressive by 106.1% in the fourth quarter. Allstate Corp now owns 44,513 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $10,136,000 after purchasing an additional 22,915 shares during the last quarter. Prospera Financial Services Inc increased its stake in Progressive by 36.9% in the third quarter. Prospera Financial Services Inc now owns 19,240 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $4,752,000 after purchasing an additional 5,184 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Progressive in the fourth quarter valued at $1,836,094,000. Finally, Mariner LLC increased its stake in Progressive by 7.9% in the third quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 644,636 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $159,183,000 after purchasing an additional 47,248 shares during the last quarter. 85.34% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have commented on PGR shares. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Progressive from $205.00 to $190.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 31st. Roth Mkm set a $235.00 price target on Progressive in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. Weiss Ratings lowered Progressive from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. BMO Capital Markets restated a “market perform” rating and set a $220.00 price target on shares of Progressive in a research note on Wednesday, May 20th. Finally, Barclays set a $247.00 price target on 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 issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Progressive presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $238.11.

Insider Transactions at Progressive

In other news, CAO Carl G. Joyce sold 270 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $206.50, for a total value of $55,755.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 558 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $115,227. This represents a 32.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Steven Broz sold 1,157 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $200.00, for a total value of $231,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 28,668 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,733,600. The trade was a 3.88% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 7,343 shares of company stock valued at $1,470,355 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.32% of the company’s stock.

Progressive Price Performance

Shares of NYSE PGR opened at $200.33 on Tuesday. The Progressive Corporation has a 1-year low of $189.20 and a 1-year high of $278.71. The business has a 50-day moving average of $198.84 and a 200-day moving average of $208.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 0.27 and a quick ratio of 0.27. The company has a market capitalization of $117.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.18, a PEG ratio of 5.91 and a beta of 0.28.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 15th. The insurance provider reported $4.80 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.67 by $0.13. Progressive had a return on equity of 33.47% and a net margin of 12.92%.The company had revenue of $22.19 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $23.51 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $4.37 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 6.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that The Progressive Corporation will post 16.35 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 2nd will be given a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 2nd. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.2%. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio is presently 2.03%.

Progressive Company 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.