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

Petrus Trust Company LTA purchased a new position in The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm purchased 110,000 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $24,030,000. Progressive makes up approximately 2.3% of Petrus Trust Company LTA’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 16th biggest holding.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its stake in Progressive by 15.6% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 3,392 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $813,000 after purchasing an additional 457 shares during the period. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Progressive during the fourth quarter worth $269,000. Bison Wealth LLC grew its stake in Progressive by 3.2% during the fourth quarter. Bison Wealth LLC now owns 2,568 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $615,000 after acquiring an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. HUB Investment Partners LLC grew its stake in Progressive by 7.8% during the second quarter. HUB Investment Partners LLC now owns 2,282 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $609,000 after acquiring an additional 166 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Diversify Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Progressive by 12.0% in the 2nd quarter. Diversify Wealth Management LLC now owns 15,146 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $3,681,000 after acquiring an additional 1,622 shares during the last quarter. 85.34% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Progressive Trading Up 0.1%

Shares of NYSE PGR opened at $222.36 on Thursday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $216.64 and its two-hundred day moving average is $207.04. 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 P/E ratio of 11.15, a PEG ratio of 2.96 and a beta of 0.27.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 15th. The insurance provider reported $5.67 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.64 by $1.03. The firm had revenue of $23.61 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $19.49 billion. Progressive had a return on equity of 32.92% and a net margin of 12.84%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 5.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $5.40 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that The Progressive Corporation will post 17.74 EPS for the current year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

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 issued a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 1st. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 2.01%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PGR has been the subject of several research reports. HSBC increased their price objective on shares of Progressive from $214.00 to $221.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, July 6th. William Blair reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Progressive in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. Mizuho set a $236.00 price target on Progressive in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $230.00 price objective on shares of Progressive in a research note on Wednesday, August 19th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Progressive in a report on Wednesday, August 19th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $236.05.

Insider Activity at Progressive

In other news, CEO Susan Patricia Griffith sold 37,338 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $212.71, for a total value of $7,942,165.98. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 522,776 shares in the company, valued at approximately $111,199,682.96. This represents a 6.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Jeffrey D. Kelly sold 7,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $216.33, for a total value of $1,514,310.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 22,546 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,877,376.18. This represents a 23.69% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 83,449 shares of company stock worth $17,685,203 in the last three months. 0.32% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.