Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Invests $3.06 Million in The Progressive Corporation $PGR

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor acquired 14,007 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $3,060,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of PGR. Meeder Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Progressive during the 2nd quarter valued at about $26,000. Bard Associates Inc. purchased a new stake in Progressive during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. IMG Wealth Management Inc. bought a new position in Progressive in the second quarter worth approximately $26,000. Bogart Wealth LLC boosted its stake in shares of Progressive by 235.1% during the 1st quarter. Bogart Wealth LLC now owns 124 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 87 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kilter Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Progressive during the 2nd quarter worth $27,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Lori A. Niederst sold 7,339 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $209.29, for a total transaction of $1,535,979.31. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 42,567 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,908,847.43. This represents a 14.71% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Steven Broz sold 1,225 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $219.40, for a total transaction of $268,765.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 31,257 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,857,785.80. The trade was a 3.77% 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 quarter, insiders have sold 83,449 shares of company stock worth $17,685,203. Insiders own 0.32% of the company’s stock.

Progressive Price Performance

PGR stock opened at $218.90 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a quick ratio of 0.29 and a current ratio of 0.29. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $217.19 and its 200-day moving average price is $207.23. The Progressive Corporation has a one year low of $189.20 and a one year high of $249.83. The company has a market capitalization of $127.26 billion, a PE ratio of 10.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.27.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 15th. The insurance provider reported $5.67 earnings per share 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 analysts’ expectations of $19.49 billion. Progressive had a net margin of 12.84% and a return on equity of 32.92%. Progressive’s quarterly revenue was up 5.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $5.40 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that The Progressive Corporation will post 17.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 9th. Shareholders 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 yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 1st. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 2.01%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently commented on PGR. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Progressive in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised Progressive from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $226.00 to $250.00 in a report on Thursday, August 20th. William Blair restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Progressive in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. Evercore set a $240.00 price objective on Progressive in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upgraded Progressive from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $190.00 to $210.00 in a research note on Friday, July 24th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Progressive 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.