Sapient Capital LLC Makes New $679,000 Investment in The Progressive Corporation $PGR

Sapient Capital LLC acquired a new position in The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor acquired 2,952 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $679,000.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of PGR. Brighton Jones LLC grew its holdings in shares of Progressive by 15.6% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 3,392 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $813,000 after acquiring an additional 457 shares during the period. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Progressive in the fourth quarter worth $269,000. Bison Wealth LLC grew its holdings in shares of Progressive by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. Bison Wealth LLC now owns 2,568 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $615,000 after acquiring an additional 80 shares during the period. HUB Investment Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Progressive by 7.8% in the second quarter. HUB Investment Partners LLC now owns 2,282 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $609,000 after acquiring an additional 166 shares during the period. Finally, Diversify Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Progressive by 12.0% in the second quarter. Diversify Wealth Management LLC now owns 15,146 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $3,681,000 after acquiring an additional 1,622 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Carl G. Joyce sold 270 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $206.50, for a total value of $55,755.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 558 shares in the company, valued at $115,227. The trade was a 32.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Maribel Pumarejo sold 739 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $203.25, for a total value of $150,201.75. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 6,933 shares of company stock valued at $1,441,564 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.32% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently commented on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price objective on Progressive from $227.00 to $210.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 7th. Evercore reaffirmed a “negative” rating on shares of Progressive in a report on Wednesday, March 18th. Mizuho cut their price target on Progressive from $235.00 to $223.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 20th. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on Progressive from $205.00 to $190.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 31st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $225.00 price target on shares of Progressive in a report on Monday, February 23rd. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Progressive presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $238.39.

Progressive Stock Performance

NYSE:PGR opened at $203.91 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $200.89 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $210.40. The Progressive Corporation has a 52-week low of $191.75 and a 52-week high of $289.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 0.27 and a current ratio of 0.27. The firm has a market capitalization of $119.15 billion, a PE ratio of 10.37, a P/E/G ratio of 5.77 and a beta of 0.31.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last released 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. Progressive had a return on equity of 33.47% and a net margin of 12.92%.The business had revenue of $22.19 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $23.51 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $4.37 earnings per share. Progressive’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.5% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that The Progressive Corporation will post 16.4 EPS for the current year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

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

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.