OneAscent Investment Solutions LLC Takes $435,000 Position in The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR)

OneAscent Investment Solutions LLC bought a new stake in The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 1,538 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $435,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. increased its holdings in Progressive by 99.1% during the first quarter. Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. now owns 37,840 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $10,709,000 after buying an additional 18,837 shares during the last quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC purchased a new stake in Progressive during the first quarter worth about $35,498,000. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund increased its holdings in Progressive by 0.6% during the first quarter. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund now owns 148,570 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $42,047,000 after buying an additional 900 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners increased its holdings in Progressive by 128.3% during the first quarter. Boston Partners now owns 12,197 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $3,452,000 after buying an additional 6,854 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GQG Partners LLC increased its holdings 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 buying an additional 3,174,632 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Progressive

In other news, insider Patrick K. Callahan sold 6,232 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $242.16, for a total transaction of $1,509,141.12. Following the transaction, the insider owned 27,844 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,742,703.04. This trade represents a 18.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Susan Patricia Griffith sold 30,660 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $242.12, for a total value of $7,423,399.20. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 506,945 shares in the company, valued at approximately $122,741,523.40. This represents a 5.70% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 104,250 shares of company stock valued at $26,332,348. 0.34% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently issued reports on PGR shares. UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of Progressive from $280.00 to $268.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 21st. Bank of America decreased their price objective on shares of Progressive from $337.00 to $336.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 17th. Morgan Stanley set a $265.00 target price on shares of Progressive and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday. BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on shares of Progressive from $288.00 to $281.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, July 18th. Finally, Citigroup started coverage on shares of Progressive in a research report on Wednesday. They set a “buy” rating and a $312.00 target price for the company. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $283.06.

Progressive Stock Up 2.5%

Shares of PGR opened at $249.06 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $146.00 billion, a PE ratio of 14.03, a P/E/G ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 0.33. The business has a fifty day moving average of $254.36 and a 200 day moving average of $266.21. The Progressive Corporation has a 52-week low of $226.52 and a 52-week high of $292.99. The company has a quick ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 0.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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. The company had revenue of $20.08 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $20.39 billion. Progressive had a return on equity of 35.37% and a net margin of 12.66%. Progressive’s revenue was up 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.48 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that The Progressive Corporation will post 14.68 EPS for the current year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 2nd will be given a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.2%. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 2.25%.

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.