S&G Foundation Invests $18.83 Million in The Progressive Corporation $PGR

S&G Foundation purchased a new position in The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund purchased 86,200 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $18,830,000. Progressive makes up about 0.9% of S&G Foundation’s portfolio, making the stock its 12th biggest holding.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Davis Asset Management L.P. bought a new position in Progressive during the 2nd quarter valued at $110,210,000. First Nebraska Trust Co acquired a new position in Progressive during the 2nd quarter worth $472,000. Bank of Nova Scotia bought a new stake in shares of Progressive in the 2nd quarter worth about $76,260,000. Elevation Point Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Progressive in the 2nd quarter worth about $4,363,000. Finally, Alta Advisers Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Progressive in the 2nd quarter valued at about $510,000. 85.34% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently commented on PGR shares. William Blair reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Progressive in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. Morgan Stanley upgraded Progressive from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $190.00 to $210.00 in a research report on Friday, July 24th. BMO Capital Markets reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Progressive in a report on Wednesday. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $230.00 price target on shares of Progressive in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Bank of America reduced their price objective on Progressive from $313.00 to $308.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Progressive presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $236.05.

Progressive Stock Down 0.4%

Shares of Progressive stock opened at $219.45 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $127.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.01, a PEG ratio of 2.94 and a beta of 0.27. The Progressive Corporation has a twelve month low of $189.20 and a twelve month high of $252.82. The company has a current ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $215.53 and its 200-day simple moving average is $206.64.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 15th. The insurance provider reported $5.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.64 by $1.03. Progressive had a return on equity of 32.92% and a net margin of 12.84%.The business had revenue of $23.61 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $19.49 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $5.40 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that The Progressive Corporation will post 17.71 earnings per share for the current year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 9th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 1st will be issued a $0.10 dividend. 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, October 1st. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 2.01%.

Insider Transactions at Progressive

In other Progressive news, insider Karen Bailo sold 8,452 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $212.71, for a total transaction of $1,797,824.92. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 32,348 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,880,743.08. The trade was a 20.72% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Lori A. Niederst sold 7,339 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $209.29, for a total transaction of $1,535,979.31. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 42,567 shares in the company, valued at $8,908,847.43. The trade was a 14.71% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 82,224 shares of company stock worth $17,416,438 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.32% of the company’s stock.

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.