RFG Advisory LLC Raises Position in The Progressive Corporation $PGR

RFG Advisory LLC raised its stake in The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) by 21.0% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,805 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,007 shares during the quarter. RFG Advisory LLC’s holdings in Progressive were worth $1,549,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on PGR shares. BMO Capital Markets set a $252.00 target price on Progressive in a report on Thursday, September 18th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on Progressive from $268.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, September 18th. Citigroup reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Progressive in a report on Friday, August 29th. Wolfe Research started coverage on Progressive in a report on Monday, September 15th. They issued a “peer perform” rating for the company. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald raised Progressive to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 13th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and thirteen have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $279.63.

Insider Activity

In other Progressive news, insider John Jo Murphy sold 2,218 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, September 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $242.10, for a total transaction of $536,977.80. Following the sale, the insider owned 43,506 shares in the company, valued at $10,532,802.60. This represents a 4.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Steven Broz sold 1,345 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, September 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $242.10, for a total value of $325,624.50. Following the sale, the insider owned 30,388 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,356,934.80. This represents a 4.24% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 130,045 shares of company stock valued at $31,997,390. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Progressive Price Performance

Shares of NYSE PGR opened at $226.36 on Thursday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $244.63 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $258.89. The Progressive Corporation has a 1-year low of $217.20 and a 1-year high of $292.99. The firm has a market cap of $132.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 0.32. The company has a current ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 0.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 15th. The insurance provider reported $4.45 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $5.04 by ($0.59). Progressive had a net margin of 12.66% and a return on equity of 35.37%. The firm had revenue of $21.38 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $21.64 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $3.58 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that The Progressive Corporation will post 14.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 2nd were given a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 2nd. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.2%. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio is currently 2.25%.

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.