Optas LLC Lowers Holdings in The Progressive Corporation $PGR

Optas LLC cut its holdings in The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) by 2.1% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 11,275 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 236 shares during the period. Optas LLC’s holdings in Progressive were worth $3,009,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PGR. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Progressive during the 1st quarter worth approximately $1,473,180,000. GQG Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Progressive by 61.4% during the 1st quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 8,346,133 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,362,039,000 after acquiring an additional 3,174,632 shares in the last quarter. C WorldWide Group Holding A S raised its holdings in shares of Progressive by 12,110.3% during the 1st quarter. C WorldWide Group Holding A S now owns 1,248,628 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $353,374,000 after acquiring an additional 1,238,402 shares in the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. raised its holdings in shares of Progressive by 15.2% during the 1st quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 8,263,157 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,338,556,000 after acquiring an additional 1,091,828 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Axiom Investors LLC DE purchased a new stake in shares of Progressive during the 1st quarter worth approximately $194,557,000. 85.34% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Progressive

In other news, insider Patrick K. Callahan sold 6,420 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, September 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $242.22, for a total transaction of $1,555,052.40. Following the transaction, the insider owned 15,192 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,679,806.24. This represents a 29.71% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Susan Patricia Griffith sold 30,660 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 506,945 shares in the company, valued at $122,741,523.40. The trade was a 5.70% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 130,045 shares of company stock worth $31,997,390. Insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Progressive Stock Performance

Shares of Progressive stock opened at $243.07 on Thursday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $245.21 and its two-hundred day moving average is $260.20. The company has a market capitalization of $142.49 billion, a PE ratio of 13.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.32. The company has a quick ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 0.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. The Progressive Corporation has a 52 week low of $228.54 and a 52 week high of $292.99.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 16th. The insurance provider reported $4.88 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.43 by $0.45. The company had revenue of $20.08 billion for 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 quarterly revenue was up 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.48 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that The Progressive Corporation will post 14.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 2nd. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.2%. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio is presently 2.25%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PGR has been the topic of several recent research reports. Evercore ISI decreased their price objective on Progressive from $275.00 to $273.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 1st. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Progressive from $267.00 to $265.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, September 22nd. Wolfe Research began coverage on Progressive in a research report on Monday, September 15th. They set a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Barclays set a $271.00 target price on Progressive in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Progressive from $265.00 to $266.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $278.63.

About Progressive

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.