Jupiter Topco LLC Buys Shares of 4,281,720 The Progressive Corporation $PGR

Jupiter Topco LLC acquired a new position in shares of The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 4,281,720 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $935,172,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PGR. Pines Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Progressive by 3.9% during the 4th quarter. Pines Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,399 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $319,000 after acquiring an additional 52 shares in the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Investment Management Company LLC increased its stake in Progressive by 0.3% during 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 purchasing an additional 52 shares during the period. Phillips Wealth Planners LLC increased its stake in Progressive by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. Phillips Wealth Planners LLC now owns 1,916 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $436,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares during the period. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. lifted its position in shares of Progressive by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. now owns 4,307 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $981,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Brown Miller Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Progressive by 2.4% during the second quarter. Brown Miller Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,365 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $517,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Progressive

In related news, CFO Andrew J. Quigg sold 3,499 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $220.00, for a total transaction of $769,780.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 42,595 shares in the company, valued at $9,370,900. This represents a 7.59% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at 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 firm’s 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 transaction, the insider directly owned 32,348 shares in the company, valued at $6,880,743.08. The trade was 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. Insiders have sold 83,449 shares of company stock worth $17,685,203 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.32% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PGR has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. HSBC upped their price objective on Progressive from $214.00 to $221.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, July 6th. Roth Capital reissued a “buy” rating and set a $245.00 target price on shares of Progressive in a research note on Thursday, August 20th. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $208.00 price target on Progressive in a report on Friday, May 22nd. Evercore set a $240.00 price objective on Progressive in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $230.00 price objective on shares of Progressive in a research report on Wednesday, August 19th. Seven equities research 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $236.05.

Progressive Stock Down 1.0%

Progressive stock opened at $221.77 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $128.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.12, a PEG ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 0.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a quick ratio of 0.29 and a current ratio of 0.29. The Progressive Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $189.20 and a fifty-two week high of $249.83. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $216.29 and a 200-day simple moving average of $206.94.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 15th. The insurance provider reported $5.67 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.64 by $1.03. Progressive had a return on equity of 32.92% and a net margin of 12.84%.The company had revenue of $23.61 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $19.49 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $5.40 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that The Progressive Corporation will post 17.72 earnings per share for the current year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 9th. Stockholders 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 payout ratio is presently 2.01%.

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.