OP Asset Management Ltd Takes Position in The Progressive Corporation $PGR

OP Asset Management Ltd purchased a new stake in The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm purchased 79,105 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $15,682,000.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of PGR. Bard Associates Inc. acquired a new stake in Progressive in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Dagco Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Progressive during the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Progressive by 700.0% during the 1st quarter. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 144 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 126 shares during the period. IFC & Insurance Marketing Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Progressive during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Finally, Ameriflex Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Progressive by 106.6% during the 3rd quarter. Ameriflex Group Inc. now owns 126 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Progressive from $218.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, March 23rd. Barclays set a $247.00 price objective on shares of Progressive in a report on Wednesday, March 18th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on shares of Progressive from $208.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. Evercore reissued a “negative” rating on shares of Progressive in a research note on Wednesday, March 18th. Finally, Bank of America decreased their price target on shares of Progressive from $331.00 to $313.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, June 18th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $237.58.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider John Jo Murphy sold 5,916 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $200.00, for a total value of $1,183,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 41,290 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,258,000. This represents a 12.53% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Steven Broz sold 1,157 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $204.76, for a total transaction of $236,907.32. Following the sale, the insider owned 27,511 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,633,152.36. This represents a 4.04% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 8,230 shares of company stock valued at $1,651,507. 0.32% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Progressive Stock Performance

Shares of Progressive stock opened at $220.66 on Thursday. The Progressive Corporation has a one year low of $189.20 and a one year high of $267.92. The company has a market cap of $128.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.22, a PEG ratio of 6.61 and a beta of 0.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 0.27 and a current ratio of 0.27. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $201.02 and its 200 day moving average price is $206.81.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 15th. The insurance provider reported $4.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.67 by $0.13. Progressive had a return on equity of 33.47% and a net margin of 12.92%.The company had revenue of $22.19 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $23.51 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $4.37 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that The Progressive Corporation will post 16.91 EPS for the current year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 2nd will be issued a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 2nd. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.2%. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio is currently 2.03%.

Progressive Company 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.