The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Takes $80.12 Million Position in The Progressive Corporation $PGR

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company bought a new stake in shares of The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 366,760 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $80,119,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company owned approximately 0.06% of Progressive as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in PGR. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its stake in shares of Progressive by 15.6% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 3,392 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $813,000 after purchasing an additional 457 shares in the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Progressive in the fourth quarter worth about $269,000. Bison Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in 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 buying an additional 80 shares during the period. HUB Investment Partners LLC boosted its position in Progressive by 7.8% during the 2nd quarter. HUB Investment Partners LLC now owns 2,282 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $609,000 after acquiring an additional 166 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Diversify Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Progressive by 12.0% during the 2nd 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.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Bank of America decreased their target price on Progressive from $313.00 to $308.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Progressive in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Progressive from $198.00 to $201.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 20th. 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 report on Monday, August 17th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Progressive from $250.00 to $241.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, August 4th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $236.05.

Progressive Stock Performance

Shares of PGR opened at $221.77 on Wednesday. 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 cap of $128.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.12, a P/E/G ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 0.27. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $216.29 and its 200-day moving average price is $206.94. The Progressive Corporation has a 52 week low of $189.20 and a 52 week high of $249.83.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 15th. The insurance provider reported $5.67 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.64 by $1.03. The company had revenue of $23.61 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $19.49 billion. Progressive had a return on equity of 32.92% and a net margin of 12.84%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $5.40 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that The Progressive Corporation will post 17.72 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The business 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. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 1st. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.2%. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 2.01%.

Insider Transactions at Progressive

In other news, insider John Jo Murphy sold 8,124 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $212.70, for a total value of $1,727,974.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 41,291 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,782,595.70. The trade was a 16.44% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Jeffrey D. Kelly sold 7,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $216.33, for a total transaction of $1,514,310.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 22,546 shares in the company, valued at $4,877,376.18. This trade represents a 23.69% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 83,449 shares of company stock worth $17,685,203 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.32% of the company’s stock.

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.