Coastal Bridge Advisors LLC Makes New $556,000 Investment in The Progressive Corporation $PGR

Coastal Bridge Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 2,546 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $556,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in Progressive in the second quarter worth about $10,496,271,000. Bank of America Corp DE purchased a new position in shares of Progressive during the second quarter valued at approximately $2,682,342,000. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Progressive during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,836,094,000. GQG Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Progressive in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,538,570,000. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG bought a new stake in shares of Progressive in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,098,838,000. 85.34% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider John Jo Murphy sold 8,124 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $212.70, for a total transaction of $1,727,974.80. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 41,291 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,782,595.70. This represents a 16.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 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 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 transaction, the insider directly owned 42,567 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,908,847.43. This represents a 14.71% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last three months, insiders sold 83,449 shares of company stock worth $17,685,203. Insiders own 0.32% of the company’s stock.

Progressive Stock Performance

Shares of PGR stock opened at $218.90 on Friday. 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 company has a 50 day moving average price of $217.19 and a 200-day moving average price of $207.23. The Progressive Corporation has a 52 week low of $189.20 and a 52 week high of $249.83. The firm has a market capitalization of $127.26 billion, a PE ratio of 10.98, a P/E/G ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.27.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last issued 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. Progressive had a net margin of 12.84% and a return on equity of 32.92%. The company had revenue of $23.61 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $19.49 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $5.40 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that The Progressive Corporation will post 17.74 earnings per share for the current year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The company 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 1st. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio is presently 2.01%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently weighed in on PGR. Morgan Stanley raised Progressive from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $190.00 to $210.00 in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Bank of America dropped their target price on Progressive from $313.00 to $308.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 16th. Mizuho set a $236.00 price target on Progressive in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. UBS Group raised their price target on Progressive from $225.00 to $234.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Progressive in a research report on Monday, August 3rd. Seven equities research 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 currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $236.26.

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.