Daiichi Life Insurance Co. Ltd. Makes New Investment in The Progressive Corporation $PGR

Daiichi Life Insurance Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund bought 41,173 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $8,994,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of PGR. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its position in shares of Progressive by 15.6% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 3,392 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $813,000 after buying an additional 457 shares during the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Progressive during the 4th quarter valued at about $269,000. Bison Wealth LLC grew its position in shares of Progressive by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. Bison Wealth LLC now owns 2,568 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $615,000 after buying an additional 80 shares during the last quarter. HUB Investment Partners LLC raised its stake in Progressive by 7.8% during 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 boosted its stake in Progressive by 12.0% in the second quarter. Diversify Wealth Management LLC now owns 15,146 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $3,681,000 after acquiring an additional 1,622 shares during the period. 85.34% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Progressive

In related news, insider Lori A. Niederst sold 7,339 shares of the company’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 of the company’s stock, valued at $8,908,847.43. This represents a 14.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 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 dated Monday, July 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $212.71, for a total transaction of $1,797,824.92. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 32,348 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,880,743.08. This represents a 20.72% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 82,224 shares of company stock valued at $17,416,438. 0.32% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Progressive Stock Performance

Shares of PGR stock opened at $219.45 on Friday. The Progressive Corporation has a 12-month low of $189.20 and a 12-month high of $252.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 0.29 and a quick ratio of 0.29. The firm has a market capitalization of $127.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.94 and a beta of 0.27. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $215.53 and a 200 day simple moving average of $206.64.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 15th. The insurance provider reported $5.67 earnings per share 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 firm had revenue of $23.61 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $19.49 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $5.40 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that The Progressive Corporation will post 17.71 EPS for the current year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 9th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 1st. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 2.01%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently commented on PGR. Roth Capital reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $245.00 target price on shares of Progressive in a report on Thursday. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “hold” rating and set a $228.00 price objective on shares of Progressive in a research report on Wednesday. Cantor Fitzgerald lowered their price objective on Progressive from $220.00 to $200.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 17th. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Progressive in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, William Blair reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Progressive in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $236.05.

Progressive Company 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.