Front Street Capital Management Inc. Invests $2.04 Million in The Progressive Corporation $PGR

Front Street Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 8,647 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,043,000.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Pines Wealth Management LLC grew its position in 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. Northwestern Mutual Investment Management Company LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Progressive by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Northwestern Mutual Investment Management Company LLC now owns 18,736 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $4,267,000 after acquiring an additional 52 shares during the last quarter. Phillips Wealth Planners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Progressive by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Phillips Wealth Planners LLC now owns 1,916 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $436,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. boosted its stake in shares of Progressive by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. now owns 4,307 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $981,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Brown Miller Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Progressive by 2.4% during the 2nd quarter. Brown Miller Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,365 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $517,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. 85.34% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently issued reports on PGR. Evercore set a $240.00 price objective on shares of Progressive in a research report on Friday, July 10th. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Progressive in a research note on Wednesday, August 19th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Progressive from $198.00 to $201.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 20th. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $208.00 price target on Progressive in a research note on Friday, May 22nd. Finally, HSBC raised their price objective on Progressive from $214.00 to $221.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, July 6th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Progressive presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $236.05.

Progressive Price Performance

Shares of PGR opened at $223.87 on Tuesday. The Progressive Corporation has a 1 year low of $189.20 and a 1 year high of $249.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 0.29 and a quick ratio of 0.29. The company has a market capitalization of $130.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 0.27. The business has a 50-day moving average of $215.94 and a 200-day moving average of $206.82.

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

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 9th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 1st will be given a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 1st. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.2%. Progressive’s payout ratio is 2.01%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Andrew J. Quigg sold 3,499 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $220.00, for a total value of $769,780.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 42,595 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,370,900. This represents a 7.59% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Karen Bailo sold 8,452 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, July 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $212.71, for a total transaction of $1,797,824.92. Following the sale, the insider owned 32,348 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,880,743.08. This trade represents a 20.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 83,449 shares of company stock worth $17,685,203. 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.