Proficio Capital Partners LLC Invests $525,000 in The Progressive Corporation $PGR

Proficio Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 2,401 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $525,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of PGR. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in Progressive during the 2nd quarter worth $10,496,271,000. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of Progressive by 0.3% in 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 during the last quarter. Capital International Investors raised its holdings in shares of Progressive by 8.9% in 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 during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE acquired a new stake in shares of Progressive during the second quarter worth about $2,682,342,000. Finally, GQG Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 1,092,151 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Progressive

In related news, insider Lori A. Niederst sold 7,339 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $209.29, for a total value of $1,535,979.31. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 42,567 shares in the company, valued at $8,908,847.43. This trade represents a 14.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Susan Patricia Griffith sold 37,338 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $219.50, for a total transaction of $8,195,691.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 485,438 shares in the company, valued at $106,553,641. The trade was a 7.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 120,787 shares of company stock worth $25,880,894. 0.32% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on PGR. Cantor Fitzgerald dropped their price target on Progressive from $220.00 to $200.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 17th. Mizuho set a $236.00 target price on Progressive in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Progressive from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Friday, August 28th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Progressive from $198.00 to $201.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 20th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on Progressive from $225.00 to $234.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 27th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $236.26.

Progressive Trading Up 0.4%

NYSE PGR opened at $221.38 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 0.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. The stock has a market capitalization of $128.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.10, a P/E/G ratio of 2.94 and a beta of 0.27. The Progressive Corporation has a 52-week low of $189.20 and a 52-week high of $249.83. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $217.51 and a 200 day moving average price of $207.58.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 15th. The insurance provider reported $5.67 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $23.61 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $19.49 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $5.40 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that The Progressive Corporation will post 17.74 EPS for the current year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 9th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 1st will be issued a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 1st. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.2%. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.