NewEdge Wealth LLC Takes $9.43 Million Position in The Progressive Corporation $PGR

NewEdge Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 43,156 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $9,427,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Progressive by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 55,261,140 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $12,584,067,000 after purchasing an additional 593,612 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Progressive in the second quarter valued at $10,496,271,000. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Progressive by 0.3% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 25,808,762 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $6,373,474,000 after buying an additional 78,374 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors boosted its stake in Progressive by 8.9% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 14,921,724 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $3,398,123,000 after buying an additional 1,217,527 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GQG Partners LLC grew its holdings in Progressive by 11.7% during the fourth quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 10,432,549 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,375,706,000 after acquiring an additional 1,092,151 shares during the period. 85.34% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Progressive Price Performance

PGR stock opened at $217.28 on Thursday. The Progressive Corporation has a one year low of $189.20 and a one year high of $254.93. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $214.84 and a two-hundred day moving average of $206.46. The firm has a market capitalization of $126.32 billion, a PE ratio of 10.90, a P/E/G ratio of 2.80 and a beta of 0.27. The company has a current ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last released its quarterly earnings results 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. The business had revenue of $23.61 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $19.49 billion. Progressive had a net margin of 12.84% and a return on equity of 32.92%. The firm’s revenue was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $5.40 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that The Progressive Corporation will post 17.47 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. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 1st will be given a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 1st. Progressive’s payout ratio is presently 2.01%.

Insider Activity at Progressive

In other Progressive news, CEO Susan Patricia Griffith sold 37,338 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $212.71, for a total transaction of $7,942,165.98. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 522,776 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $111,199,682.96. The trade was a 6.67% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 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 shares were sold at an average price of $212.71, for a total value of $1,797,824.92. Following the completion of the sale, the insider 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. 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 90 days, insiders sold 82,224 shares of company stock worth $17,416,438. Insiders own 0.32% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on PGR shares. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Progressive from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and upped their price target for the company from $190.00 to $210.00 in a report on Friday, July 24th. Bank of America lowered their price objective on shares of Progressive from $313.00 to $308.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. HSBC boosted their target price on shares of Progressive from $214.00 to $221.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, July 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their target price on shares of Progressive from $231.00 to $226.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 16th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Progressive in a research report on Monday, August 3rd. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $234.11.

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.