FWG Investments LLC. Buys New Shares in The Progressive Corporation $PGR

FWG Investments LLC. bought a new position in shares of The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 1,424 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $380,000.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Progressive by 1.2% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 54,022,956 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $15,289,037,000 after purchasing an additional 622,590 shares in the last quarter. GQG Partners LLC grew 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 valued at $2,362,039,000 after buying an additional 3,174,632 shares in the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. increased its holdings in Progressive by 15.2% during the first quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 8,263,157 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,338,556,000 after buying an additional 1,091,828 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC raised its position in Progressive by 6.6% during the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 6,380,134 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,805,642,000 after acquiring an additional 396,567 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in Progressive in the first quarter valued at $1,473,180,000. 85.34% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of Progressive from $268.00 to $261.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price target on Progressive from $270.00 to $262.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 16th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price target on Progressive from $309.00 to $287.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on Progressive from $276.00 to $245.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. Finally, Evercore ISI reduced their target price on Progressive from $275.00 to $273.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 1st. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Progressive has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $268.90.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Progressive news, insider John Jo Murphy sold 2,218 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.78, for a total transaction of $556,230.04. Following the transaction, the insider owned 45,724 shares in the company, valued at $11,466,664.72. This represents a 4.63% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Lori A. Niederst sold 8,063 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.18, for a total transaction of $2,017,201.34. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 39,040 shares in the company, valued at $9,767,027.20. This represents a 17.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 58,500 shares of company stock valued at $14,430,089 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Progressive Price Performance

Progressive stock opened at $206.71 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $121.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.34, a PEG ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 0.32. The company has a current ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 0.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. The Progressive Corporation has a 12 month low of $206.41 and a 12 month high of $292.99. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $237.97 and its 200-day moving average is $254.67.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 15th. The insurance provider reported $4.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $5.04 by ($0.59). Progressive had a net margin of 12.57% and a return on equity of 33.88%. The firm had revenue of $21.38 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $21.64 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $3.58 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that The Progressive Corporation will post 14.68 EPS for the current year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 2nd were paid a $0.10 dividend. 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 2.19%.

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.