Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. Boosts Stock Position in The Progressive Corporation $PGR

Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. grew its stake in shares of The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) by 1.9% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 30,131 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 565 shares during the period. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Progressive were worth $8,041,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in PGR. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its position in shares of Progressive by 15.6% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 3,392 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $813,000 after buying an additional 457 shares in the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Progressive during the 4th quarter valued at about $269,000. Bison Wealth LLC lifted its position in shares of Progressive by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. Bison Wealth LLC now owns 2,568 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $615,000 after buying an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in shares of Progressive by 39.2% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 10,763 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $3,046,000 after buying an additional 3,029 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CVA Family Office LLC lifted its position in shares of Progressive by 9.2% during the 1st quarter. CVA Family Office LLC now owns 1,011 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $286,000 after buying an additional 85 shares in the last quarter. 85.34% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PGR has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Bank of America lifted their price objective on Progressive from $343.00 to $350.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 29th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Progressive in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on Progressive from $268.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, September 18th. Evercore ISI lowered their price target on Progressive from $275.00 to $273.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 1st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets set a $252.00 price target on Progressive in a report on Thursday, September 18th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $279.63.

Progressive Stock Performance

NYSE:PGR opened at $240.18 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 0.31 and a quick ratio of 0.31. The Progressive Corporation has a 1 year low of $228.54 and a 1 year high of $292.99. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $245.20 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $259.54. The company has a market cap of $140.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.53, a PEG ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 0.32.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 16th. The insurance provider reported $4.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.43 by $0.45. Progressive had a return on equity of 35.37% and a net margin of 12.66%.The business had revenue of $20.08 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $20.39 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.48 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that The Progressive Corporation will post 14.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 2nd were paid a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 2nd. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.2%. Progressive’s payout ratio is presently 2.25%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Progressive news, insider Patrick K. Callahan sold 6,420 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $242.22, for a total value of $1,555,052.40. Following the sale, the insider owned 15,192 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,679,806.24. The trade was a 29.71% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider John Jo Murphy sold 2,218 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $242.10, for a total value of $536,977.80. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 43,506 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,532,802.60. The trade was a 4.85% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 130,045 shares of company stock worth $31,997,390. Insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Progressive Profile

The Progressive Corporation, an insurance holding company, provides personal and commercial auto, personal residential and commercial property, business related general liability, and other specialty property-casualty insurance products and related services in the United States. It operates in three segments: Personal Lines, Commercial Lines, and Property.