Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec Takes Position in The Progressive Corporation $PGR

Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec bought a new position in shares of The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund bought 2,251,862 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $491,919,000.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Progressive in the second quarter worth $10,496,271,000. State Street Corp raised its stake 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 acquiring an additional 78,374 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors boosted its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 1,217,527 shares during the period. GQG Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Progressive by 11.7% in the fourth quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 10,432,549 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,375,706,000 after purchasing an additional 1,092,151 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in Progressive during the 4th quarter worth $1,836,094,000. 85.34% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Mizuho set a $236.00 price target on Progressive in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $208.00 price objective on Progressive in a research report on Friday, May 22nd. William Blair restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Progressive in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised shares of Progressive from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their target price for the company from $226.00 to $250.00 in a report on Thursday, August 20th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Progressive from $198.00 to $201.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 20th. Seven 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. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $236.05.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Susan Patricia Griffith sold 37,338 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $212.71, for a total value of $7,942,165.98. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 522,776 shares in the company, valued at approximately $111,199,682.96. This represents a 6.67% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Lori A. Niederst sold 7,339 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $209.29, for a total transaction of $1,535,979.31. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly 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 SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 83,449 shares of company stock valued at $17,685,203 over the last three months. 0.32% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Progressive Stock Down 1.0%

Progressive stock opened at $221.77 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $128.93 billion, a PE ratio of 11.12, a P/E/G ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 0.27. 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 stock’s fifty day moving average is $216.29 and its two-hundred day moving average is $206.94. The Progressive Corporation has a 1-year low of $189.20 and a 1-year high of $249.83.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 15th. The insurance provider reported $5.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 in the prior year, the firm posted $5.40 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that The Progressive Corporation will post 17.72 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 9th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 1st will be paid a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 1st. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio is currently 2.01%.

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.