The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Invests $80.12 Million in The Progressive Corporation $PGR

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company purchased a new stake in shares of The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 366,760 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $80,119,000.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 457 shares during the period. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Progressive in the fourth quarter worth approximately $269,000. Bison Wealth LLC grew its stake in shares of Progressive by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. Bison Wealth LLC now owns 2,568 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $615,000 after acquiring an additional 80 shares during the period. HUB Investment Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Progressive by 7.8% during the second quarter. HUB Investment Partners LLC now owns 2,282 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $609,000 after purchasing an additional 166 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Diversify Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Progressive by 12.0% during the second quarter. Diversify Wealth Management LLC now owns 15,146 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $3,681,000 after purchasing an additional 1,622 shares during the last quarter. 85.34% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Progressive Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE PGR opened at $221.77 on Wednesday. The Progressive Corporation has a 12-month low of $189.20 and a 12-month high of $249.83. The firm has a market capitalization of $128.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 0.27. The company has a current ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $216.29 and a 200 day moving average of $206.94.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 15th. The insurance provider reported $5.67 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.64 by $1.03. The business had revenue of $23.61 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $19.49 billion. Progressive had a net margin of 12.84% and a return on equity of 32.92%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 5.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $5.40 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that The Progressive Corporation will post 17.72 earnings per share for the current year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 9th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 1st will be paid a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 1st. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio is 2.01%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Susan Patricia Griffith sold 37,338 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $212.71, for a total value of $7,942,165.98. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 522,776 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $111,199,682.96. This trade represents a 6.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Lori A. Niederst sold 7,339 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $209.29, for a total value of $1,535,979.31. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 42,567 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,908,847.43. The trade was a 14.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 83,449 shares of company stock worth $17,685,203 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.32% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PGR has been the topic of several research reports. Evercore set a $240.00 target price on shares of Progressive in a report on Friday, July 10th. William Blair reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Progressive in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. Mizuho set a $236.00 price target on Progressive in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Morgan Stanley upgraded Progressive from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $190.00 to $210.00 in a research note on Friday, July 24th. Finally, Bank of America cut their price objective on Progressive from $313.00 to $308.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 16th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $236.05.

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.