Osmosis Investment Management UK Ltd Acquires Shares of 18,860 The Progressive Corporation $PGR

Osmosis Investment Management UK Ltd bought a new position in shares of The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund bought 18,860 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $4,120,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Bank of Nova Scotia bought a new position in shares of Progressive in the 2nd quarter valued at $76,260,000. Allstate Corp raised its holdings in shares of Progressive by 106.1% during the 4th quarter. Allstate Corp now owns 44,513 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $10,136,000 after buying an additional 22,915 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Progressive during the 4th quarter worth $1,836,094,000. Investment House LLC bought a new stake in shares of Progressive during the 4th quarter worth $8,447,000. Finally, Van Cleef Asset Management Inc boosted its stake in Progressive by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Van Cleef Asset Management Inc now owns 761,587 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $173,429,000 after buying an additional 9,017 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have commented on PGR. Cantor Fitzgerald lowered their target price on Progressive from $220.00 to $200.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 17th. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Progressive from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and raised their price target for the company from $190.00 to $210.00 in a research note on Friday, July 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $230.00 price target on shares of Progressive in a report on Wednesday. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $208.00 price objective on shares of Progressive in a research note on Friday, May 22nd. Finally, Mizuho set a $236.00 target price on shares of Progressive in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $236.05.

Progressive Stock Performance

NYSE:PGR opened at $219.45 on Monday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $215.53 and its 200-day moving average is $206.66. The Progressive Corporation has a 1-year low of $189.20 and a 1-year high of $252.82. The company has a current ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. The stock has a market cap of $127.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 0.27.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 15th. The insurance provider reported $5.67 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.64 by $1.03. Progressive had a net margin of 12.84% and a return on equity of 32.92%. The business had revenue of $23.61 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $19.49 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $5.40 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that The Progressive Corporation will post 17.71 earnings per share for the current year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 9th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 1st will be issued a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 1st. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio is presently 2.01%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Lori A. Niederst sold 7,339 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $209.29, for a total value of $1,535,979.31. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 42,567 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,908,847.43. This represents a 14.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CIO Jonathan S. Bauer sold 2,242 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $212.71, for a total value of $476,895.82. Following the transaction, the executive owned 26,250 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,583,637.50. This trade represents a 7.87% 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 82,224 shares of company stock valued at $17,416,438 over the last ninety days. 0.32% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

About Progressive

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.