Petrus Trust Company LTA Acquires New Shares in The Progressive Corporation $PGR

Petrus Trust Company LTA bought a new position in The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm bought 110,000 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $24,030,000. Progressive accounts for approximately 2.3% of Petrus Trust Company LTA’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 16th biggest holding.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Bank of Nova Scotia purchased a new position in Progressive during the second quarter valued at $76,260,000. Allstate Corp lifted its position in Progressive by 106.1% during the 4th quarter. Allstate Corp now owns 44,513 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $10,136,000 after acquiring an additional 22,915 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Progressive during the fourth quarter worth about $1,836,094,000. Investment House LLC bought a new stake in Progressive during the fourth quarter worth about $8,447,000. Finally, Callan Family Office LLC purchased a new stake in Progressive in the second quarter worth about $3,025,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Karen Bailo sold 8,452 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the insider owned 32,348 shares in the company, valued at $6,880,743.08. This trade represents a 20.72% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Jeffrey D. Kelly sold 7,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,877,376.18. The trade was a 23.69% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 83,449 shares of company stock valued at $17,685,203. 0.32% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of Progressive from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $226.00 to $250.00 in a report on Thursday, August 20th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Progressive from $198.00 to $201.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 20th. Morgan Stanley upgraded Progressive from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $190.00 to $210.00 in a research note on Friday, July 24th. Bank of America cut their target price on Progressive from $313.00 to $308.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. Finally, Mizuho set a $236.00 price target on shares of Progressive in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $236.05.

Progressive Price Performance

NYSE PGR opened at $222.36 on Thursday. 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 Progressive Corporation has a 1-year low of $189.20 and a 1-year high of $249.83. The stock has a market capitalization of $129.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.15, a PEG ratio of 2.96 and a beta of 0.27. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $216.64 and its 200-day moving average price is $207.04.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last announced its earnings results 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $19.49 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $5.40 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts predict that The Progressive Corporation will post 17.74 earnings per share 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 dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 1st. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio is currently 2.01%.

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.