QRG Capital Management Inc. Raises Stock Holdings in The Progressive Corporation $PGR

QRG Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) by 14.1% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 72,161 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 8,938 shares during the quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Progressive were worth $14,305,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Allstate Corp increased its holdings in Progressive by 106.1% in the fourth quarter. Allstate Corp now owns 44,513 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $10,136,000 after buying an additional 22,915 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Progressive in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,836,094,000. Mariner LLC raised its position in Progressive by 7.9% in the 3rd quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 644,636 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $159,183,000 after purchasing an additional 47,248 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Progressive by 5.7% in the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 1,807,068 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $411,506,000 after buying an additional 97,275 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Investment House LLC acquired a new stake in Progressive during the 4th quarter worth approximately $8,447,000. 85.34% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their target price on shares of Progressive from $216.00 to $215.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 24th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered Progressive from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $205.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Monday, June 29th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Progressive from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Bank of America dropped their target price on shares of Progressive from $331.00 to $313.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, June 18th. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut shares of Progressive from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Progressive currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $237.37.

Progressive Stock Performance

NYSE:PGR opened at $231.75 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $135.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.78, a P/E/G ratio of 7.03 and a beta of 0.26. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $203.97 and its two-hundred day moving average is $206.81. The Progressive Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $189.20 and a fifty-two week high of $261.66. The company has a quick ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 0.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 15th. The insurance provider reported $4.80 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.67 by $0.13. Progressive had a return on equity of 33.47% and a net margin of 12.92%.The company had revenue of $22.19 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $23.51 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $4.37 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 6.5% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that The Progressive Corporation will post 17.12 EPS for the current year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 2nd will be given a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 2nd. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio is presently 2.03%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Progressive

In related news, insider Steven Broz sold 1,157 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $204.76, for a total value of $236,907.32. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 27,511 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,633,152.36. The trade was a 4.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider John Jo Murphy sold 5,916 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $200.00, for a total transaction of $1,183,200.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 41,290 shares in the company, valued at $8,258,000. This trade represents a 12.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 15,230 shares of company stock valued at $3,165,817 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.32% of the company’s stock.

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.