The Progressive Corporation $PGR Shares Acquired by KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS

KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS increased its holdings in shares of The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) by 8.5% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 249,168 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 19,600 shares during the quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS’s holdings in Progressive were worth $61,532,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. New York Life Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in Progressive by 1.4% during the 2nd quarter. New York Life Investment Management LLC now owns 87,760 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $23,420,000 after buying an additional 1,192 shares during the last quarter. Baron Silver Stevens Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Progressive during the 2nd quarter worth about $306,000. Mather Group LLC. lifted its stake in Progressive by 40.6% during the third quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 16,840 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $4,159,000 after purchasing an additional 4,865 shares during the last quarter. Wakefield Asset Management LLLP lifted its stake in Progressive by 199.0% during the second quarter. Wakefield Asset Management LLLP now owns 9,411 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,511,000 after purchasing an additional 6,263 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Gateway Investment Advisers LLC boosted its holdings in Progressive by 91.7% in the third quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC now owns 11,710 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,892,000 after purchasing an additional 5,600 shares in the last quarter. 85.34% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PGR has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective on shares of Progressive from $276.00 to $245.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 27th. William Blair cut shares of Progressive from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 18th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on shares of Progressive from $250.00 to $252.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Barclays cut their target price on Progressive from $271.00 to $257.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, October 20th. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded Progressive from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, October 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating, thirteen have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Progressive currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $265.09.

Insider Buying and Selling at Progressive

In other Progressive news, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $228.48, for a total transaction of $1,142,400.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 223,024 shares in the company, valued at approximately $50,956,523.52. The trade was a 2.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Steven Broz sold 1,345 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $228.29, for a total transaction of $307,050.05. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 27,698 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,323,176.42. The trade was a 4.63% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 9,034 shares of company stock valued at $2,047,481 in the last quarter. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Progressive Stock Down 0.2%

Shares of NYSE:PGR opened at $212.52 on Wednesday. The Progressive Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $199.90 and a fifty-two week high of $292.99. The company has a quick ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 0.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $222.92 and its 200-day simple moving average is $236.88. The company has a market cap of $124.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.66, a PEG ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.34.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 15th. The insurance provider reported $4.45 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.04 by ($0.59). Progressive had a net margin of 12.57% and a return on equity of 33.88%. The firm had revenue of $21.38 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $21.64 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $3.58 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that The Progressive Corporation will post 14.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 8th. Investors of record on Friday, January 2nd will be issued a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 2nd. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio is currently 2.19%.

Progressive 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.