Naviter Wealth LLC Increases Position in The Progressive Corporation $PGR

Naviter Wealth LLC lifted its position in shares of The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) by 7.8% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 5,810 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 422 shares during the quarter. Naviter Wealth LLC’s holdings in Progressive were worth $1,550,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Progressive by 1.2% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 54,022,956 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $15,289,037,000 after purchasing an additional 622,590 shares during the period. GQG Partners LLC raised its stake in Progressive by 61.4% during the first quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 8,346,133 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,362,039,000 after purchasing an additional 3,174,632 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P. raised its stake in Progressive by 15.2% during the first quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 8,263,157 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,338,556,000 after purchasing an additional 1,091,828 shares during the period. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC raised its stake in Progressive by 6.6% during the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 6,380,134 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,805,642,000 after purchasing an additional 396,567 shares during the period. Finally, Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in Progressive during the first quarter worth approximately $1,473,180,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Progressive from $301.00 to $303.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 9th. Evercore ISI dropped their price objective on shares of Progressive from $275.00 to $273.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 1st. Cantor Fitzgerald raised shares of Progressive to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 13th. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on shares of Progressive in a research report on Monday, September 15th. They issued a “peer perform” rating for the company. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Progressive from $267.00 to $265.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, September 22nd. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and thirteen have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $279.63.

Progressive Price Performance

PGR opened at $240.54 on Wednesday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $245.05 and a 200 day simple moving average of $259.11. The firm has a market cap of $141.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.55, a PEG ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 0.32. The Progressive Corporation has a twelve month low of $228.54 and a twelve month high of $292.99. The company has a current ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 0.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 16th. The insurance provider reported $4.88 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.43 by $0.45. The business had revenue of $20.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $20.39 billion. Progressive had a net margin of 12.66% and a return on equity of 35.37%. The business’s revenue was up 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.48 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that The Progressive Corporation will post 14.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 2nd were 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 of this dividend was Thursday, October 2nd. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 2.25%.

Insider Activity at Progressive

In other Progressive news, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 16,664 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.24, for a total transaction of $4,153,335.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 228,024 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $56,832,701.76. This trade represents a 6.81% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Susan Patricia Griffith sold 30,660 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $242.12, for a total transaction of $7,423,399.20. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 506,945 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $122,741,523.40. This represents a 5.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 130,045 shares of company stock worth $31,997,390 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Progressive Company 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.