The Progressive Corporation $PGR Shares Bought by Winmill & CO. Inc.

Winmill & CO. Inc. lifted its stake in shares of The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) by 15.7% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 64,000 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 8,670 shares during the period. Progressive comprises about 3.9% of Winmill & CO. Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 12th largest position. Winmill & CO. Inc.’s holdings in Progressive were worth $14,574,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Klingman & Associates LLC lifted its stake in Progressive by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Klingman & Associates LLC now owns 2,927 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $667,000 after buying an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. Revisor Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Progressive by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. Revisor Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,902 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $395,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the period. Cullen Investment Group LTD. lifted its position in Progressive by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Cullen Investment Group LTD. now owns 7,463 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,606,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares during the last quarter. Pines Wealth Management LLC boosted 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 valued at $319,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares during the period. Finally, Northwestern Mutual Investment Management Company LLC boosted its stake in Progressive by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Northwestern Mutual Investment Management Company LLC now owns 18,736 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $4,267,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Roth Mkm set a $235.00 price target on shares of Progressive in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Progressive in a research report on Friday, May 22nd. Evercore restated a “negative” rating on shares of Progressive in a research report on Wednesday, March 18th. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on Progressive from $205.00 to $190.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 31st. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered Progressive from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Six 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Progressive currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $238.11.

Progressive Price Performance

NYSE PGR opened at $202.86 on Monday. The Progressive Corporation has a 12 month low of $189.20 and a 12 month high of $269.84. The firm has a market capitalization of $118.54 billion, a PE ratio of 10.31, a P/E/G ratio of 5.89 and a beta of 0.28. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $199.20 and its 200 day simple moving average is $207.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 0.27 and a quick ratio of 0.27.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 15th. The insurance provider reported $4.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.67 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $22.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $23.51 billion. Progressive had a return on equity of 33.47% and a net margin of 12.92%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $4.37 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that The Progressive Corporation will post 16.35 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CAO Carl G. Joyce sold 270 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $206.50, for a total value of $55,755.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 558 shares in the company, valued at $115,227. The trade was a 32.61% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider John Jo Murphy sold 5,916 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $200.00, for a total transaction of $1,183,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 41,290 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,258,000. This trade represents a 12.53% 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. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 7,343 shares of company stock worth $1,470,355. 0.32% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.