Osterweis Capital Management Inc. Has $37 Million Stock Holdings in The Progressive Corporation $PGR

Osterweis Capital Management Inc. reduced its stake in The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) by 9.8% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 130,747 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 14,269 shares during the quarter. Osterweis Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Progressive were worth $37,003,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. State of Alaska Department of Revenue lifted its stake in shares of Progressive by 2.7% in the first quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 68,644 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $19,426,000 after acquiring an additional 1,800 shares during the period. QRG Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in Progressive by 36.4% in the first quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 126,826 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $35,893,000 after buying an additional 33,864 shares during the period. MEAG MUNICH ERGO Kapitalanlagegesellschaft mbH lifted its stake in Progressive by 498.5% in the first quarter. MEAG MUNICH ERGO Kapitalanlagegesellschaft mbH now owns 5,057 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,431,000 after buying an additional 4,212 shares during the period. Hennessy Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Progressive in the first quarter valued at approximately $3,141,000. Finally, TCW Group Inc. lifted its stake in Progressive by 4.5% in the first quarter. TCW Group Inc. now owns 12,034 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $3,406,000 after buying an additional 523 shares during the period. 85.34% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PGR has been the subject of several recent research reports. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Progressive from $275.00 to $265.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, August 11th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price objective on Progressive from $309.00 to $287.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, August 11th. Barclays decreased their price objective on Progressive from $287.00 to $281.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded Progressive to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 13th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Progressive from $328.00 to $333.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, June 20th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Progressive currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $284.53.

Progressive Stock Performance

Shares of PGR opened at $250.6930 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $252.37 and its 200 day simple moving average is $266.40. The stock has a market capitalization of $146.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 0.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 0.31 and a current ratio of 0.31. The Progressive Corporation has a 52-week low of $228.54 and a 52-week high of $292.99.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last issued 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. The business had revenue of $20.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $20.39 billion. Progressive had a return on equity of 35.37% and a net margin of 12.66%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.48 EPS. Research analysts forecast that The Progressive Corporation will post 14.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Progressive

In related news, insider Andrew J. Quigg sold 3,191 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.24, for a total transaction of $795,324.84. Following the sale, the insider owned 37,977 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,465,387.48. This represents a 7.75% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Susan Patricia Griffith sold 30,660 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $242.12, for a total value of $7,423,399.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 506,945 shares in the company, valued at $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 have sold a total of 112,313 shares of company stock worth $28,349,549 in the last three months. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.