The Progressive Corporation $PGR Shares Bought by Giverny Capital Inc.

Giverny Capital Inc. raised its holdings in The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) by 0.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 536,832 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,943 shares during the quarter. Progressive accounts for about 4.1% of Giverny Capital Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 10th biggest position. Giverny Capital Inc. owned about 0.09% of Progressive worth $122,247,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Progressive by 11.4% in the fourth quarter. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 7,711 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,718,000 after acquiring an additional 786 shares during the period. KCM Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Progressive by 22.4% in the fourth quarter. KCM Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,232 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $508,000 after acquiring an additional 408 shares during the period. Dixon Mitchell Investment Counsel Inc. acquired a new stake in Progressive in the fourth quarter valued at $135,000. Arax Advisory Partners lifted its holdings in Progressive by 27.8% in the fourth quarter. Arax Advisory Partners now owns 8,326 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,896,000 after acquiring an additional 1,813 shares during the period. Finally, Aurora Investment Counsel acquired a new stake in Progressive in the fourth quarter valued at $2,448,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PGR has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Barclays set a $247.00 target price on Progressive in a report on Wednesday, March 18th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on Progressive from $205.00 to $190.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 31st. BMO Capital Markets reissued a “market perform” rating and issued a $220.00 target price on shares of Progressive in a report on Wednesday, May 20th. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $208.00 target price on Progressive in a report on Friday, May 22nd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $225.00 price target on shares of Progressive in a research note on Monday, February 23rd. Six 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’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Progressive has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $238.11.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Carl G. Joyce sold 270 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $206.50, for a total transaction of $55,755.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 558 shares in the company, valued at approximately $115,227. This trade represents a 32.61% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Steven Broz sold 1,157 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $200.00, for a total value of $231,400.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 28,668 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,733,600. This represents a 3.88% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last quarter, insiders sold 7,343 shares of company stock worth $1,470,355. 0.32% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Progressive Trading Up 0.3%

NYSE:PGR opened at $202.86 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $118.54 billion, a PE ratio of 10.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.89 and a beta of 0.28. The company has a quick ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 0.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The Progressive Corporation has a 52-week low of $189.20 and a 52-week high of $269.84. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $199.20 and a 200-day simple moving average of $208.05.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last released 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 business had revenue of $22.19 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $23.51 billion. Progressive had a return on equity of 33.47% and a net margin of 12.92%.The business’s revenue was up 6.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $4.37 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that The Progressive Corporation will post 16.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 2nd will be given 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 is Thursday, July 2nd. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 2.03%.

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.