Investment House LLC Acquires Shares of 37,095 The Progressive Corporation $PGR

Investment House LLC acquired a new stake in shares of The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 37,095 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $8,447,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Progressive by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 55,261,140 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $12,584,067,000 after acquiring an additional 593,612 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Progressive by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 25,808,762 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $6,373,474,000 after acquiring an additional 78,374 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors boosted its stake in Progressive by 78.9% during the 3rd quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 13,704,197 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $3,384,082,000 after acquiring an additional 6,045,732 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its stake in Progressive by 26.1% during the 3rd quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 11,167,940 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,757,905,000 after acquiring an additional 2,314,864 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc boosted its stake in Progressive by 4.9% during the 3rd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 4,196,111 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,036,230,000 after acquiring an additional 197,603 shares during the last quarter. 85.34% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Progressive

In other Progressive news, CIO Jonathan S. Bauer sold 2,266 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $203.05, for a total transaction of $460,111.30. Following the transaction, the executive owned 26,250 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,330,062.50. This trade represents a 7.95% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Carl G. Joyce sold 270 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $206.50, for a total transaction of $55,755.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 558 shares in the company, valued at approximately $115,227. The trade was a 32.61% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 6,933 shares of company stock worth $1,441,564 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.32% of the company’s stock.

Progressive Stock Down 0.5%

PGR stock opened at $203.02 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $118.63 billion, a PE ratio of 10.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.90 and a beta of 0.31. 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 firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $200.73 and its 200 day simple moving average is $210.37. The Progressive Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $191.75 and a fifty-two week high of $289.96.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 15th. The insurance provider reported $4.80 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.67 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $22.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $23.51 billion. Progressive had a net margin of 12.92% and a return on equity of 33.47%. Progressive’s quarterly revenue was up 6.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $4.37 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that The Progressive Corporation will post 16.4 EPS for the current year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have commented on PGR shares. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on shares of Progressive from $216.00 to $215.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 24th. Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of Progressive from $300.60 to $261.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Progressive from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 24th. Argus upgraded shares of Progressive to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of Progressive from $208.00 to $221.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. Six 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 company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Progressive presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $238.39.

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.