Everett Harris & Co. CA Buys New Holdings in The Progressive Corporation $PGR

Everett Harris & Co. CA purchased a new position in The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 202,641 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $44,267,000. Progressive makes up about 0.5% of Everett Harris & Co. CA’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 28th largest holding.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Progressive by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 55,261,140 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $12,584,067,000 after buying an additional 593,612 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of Progressive by 0.3% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 25,808,762 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $6,373,474,000 after acquiring an additional 78,374 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors grew its stake in Progressive by 8.9% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 14,921,724 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $3,398,123,000 after acquiring an additional 1,217,527 shares in the last quarter. GQG Partners LLC grew its stake in Progressive by 11.7% during the fourth quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 10,432,549 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,375,706,000 after acquiring an additional 1,092,151 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in Progressive in the 4th quarter valued at $1,836,094,000. 85.34% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Progressive

In related news, CIO Jonathan S. Bauer sold 2,242 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, July 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $212.71, for a total transaction of $476,895.82. Following the sale, the executive owned 26,250 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,583,637.50. This represents a 7.87% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider John Jo Murphy sold 8,124 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $212.70, for a total value of $1,727,974.80. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 41,291 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,782,595.70. This represents a 16.44% 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 have sold a total of 74,885 shares of company stock worth $15,880,459 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.32% of the company’s stock.

Progressive Trading Up 0.3%

PGR opened at $209.48 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $121.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.51, a P/E/G ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 0.27. The Progressive Corporation has a 12 month low of $189.20 and a 12 month high of $254.93. 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 50-day moving average of $214.36 and a 200 day moving average of $206.47.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 15th. The insurance provider reported $5.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.64 by $1.03. The business had revenue of $23.61 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $19.49 billion. Progressive had a return on equity of 32.92% and a net margin of 12.84%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $5.40 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that The Progressive Corporation will post 17.57 EPS for the current year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 9th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 1st will be given a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 1st. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.2%. Progressive’s payout ratio is currently 2.01%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have commented on PGR shares. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Progressive in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. Mizuho set a $236.00 price objective on Progressive in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Morgan Stanley raised Progressive from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $190.00 to $210.00 in a report on Friday, July 24th. HSBC boosted their target price on Progressive from $214.00 to $221.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, July 6th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on Progressive from $250.00 to $241.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, August 4th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $235.00.

Progressive Company 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.