Parnassus Investments LLC Buys 8,775 Shares of The Progressive Corporation $PGR

Parnassus Investments LLC lifted its stake in shares of The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) by 2.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 455,850 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 8,775 shares during the quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC owned about 0.08% of Progressive worth $103,806,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Klingman & Associates LLC boosted its stake in shares of Progressive by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Klingman & Associates LLC now owns 2,927 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $667,000 after buying an additional 48 shares during the period. Revisor Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Progressive by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Revisor Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,902 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $395,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Cullen Investment Group LTD. raised its position in Progressive by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Cullen Investment Group LTD. now owns 7,463 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,606,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares in the last quarter. Pines Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Progressive by 3.9% during the fourth quarter. Pines Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,399 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $319,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northwestern Mutual Investment Management Company LLC raised its position in Progressive by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Northwestern Mutual Investment Management Company LLC now owns 18,736 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $4,267,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Progressive Stock Down 0.9%

Shares of NYSE:PGR opened at $202.41 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $199.01 and a 200-day moving average of $208.09. The company has a market capitalization of $118.27 billion, a PE ratio of 10.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.92 and a beta of 0.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 0.27 and a current ratio of 0.27. The Progressive Corporation has a 52-week low of $189.20 and a 52-week high of $269.84.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 15th. The insurance provider reported $4.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.67 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $22.19 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $23.51 billion. Progressive had a net margin of 12.92% and a return on equity of 33.47%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $4.37 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that The Progressive Corporation will post 16.35 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 2nd will be issued a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 2nd. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.2%. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio is 2.03%.

Insider Transactions at Progressive

In other news, CAO Carl G. Joyce sold 270 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $206.50, for a total transaction of $55,755.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 558 shares in the company, valued at approximately $115,227. This represents a 32.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Steven Broz sold 1,157 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $200.00, for a total transaction of $231,400.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 28,668 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,733,600. This trade represents a 3.88% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 ninety days, insiders sold 7,343 shares of company stock worth $1,470,355. Corporate insiders own 0.32% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PGR has been the subject of several research analyst reports. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Progressive from $218.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, March 23rd. Bank of America lowered their price objective on shares of Progressive from $325.00 to $320.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 20th. Evercore restated a “negative” rating on shares of Progressive in a research report on Wednesday, March 18th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Progressive from $205.00 to $190.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 31st. Finally, Argus upgraded shares of Progressive to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $238.11.

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.