Pacific Sage Partners LLC Buys New Holdings in The Progressive Corporation $PGR

Pacific Sage Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 7,272 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,589,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PGR. Bogart Wealth LLC lifted its stake in shares of Progressive by 235.1% in the 1st quarter. Bogart Wealth LLC now owns 124 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 87 shares in the last quarter. Bard Associates Inc. acquired a new stake in Progressive during the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in Progressive by 700.0% during the 1st quarter. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 144 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 126 shares in the last quarter. IFC & Insurance Marketing Inc. purchased a new position in Progressive in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Finally, Axiom Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Progressive in the first quarter valued at approximately $31,000. 85.34% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on shares of Progressive from $220.00 to $205.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Progressive in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. HSBC raised their target price on shares of Progressive from $214.00 to $221.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, July 6th. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $208.00 price target on shares of Progressive in a research report on Friday, May 22nd. Finally, Evercore set a $240.00 price target on Progressive in a report on Friday, July 10th. Five 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $235.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Progressive

In other Progressive news, insider John Jo Murphy sold 8,124 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 27th. The shares were 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 directly owned 41,291 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,782,595.70. This represents a 16.44% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Susan Patricia Griffith sold 37,338 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $212.71, for a total value of $7,942,165.98. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 522,776 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $111,199,682.96. This represents a 6.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 74,885 shares of company stock worth $15,880,459. 0.32% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Progressive Stock Performance

Progressive stock opened at $209.48 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $121.79 billion, a PE ratio of 10.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.27. The Progressive Corporation has a one year low of $189.20 and a one year high of $254.93. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $214.36 and its 200 day moving average price is $206.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a quick ratio of 0.29 and a current ratio of 0.29.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 15th. The insurance provider reported $5.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.64 by $1.03. The company had revenue of $23.61 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $19.49 billion. Progressive had a net margin of 12.84% and a return on equity of 32.92%. Progressive’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 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that The Progressive Corporation will post 17.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 9th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 1st will be paid a $0.10 dividend. 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 is 2.01%.

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.