Pure Financial Advisors LLC Makes New $679,000 Investment in The Progressive Corporation $PGR

Pure Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 3,110 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $679,000.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PGR. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in Progressive in the second quarter valued at approximately $10,496,271,000. Bank of America Corp DE bought a new position in Progressive during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $2,682,342,000. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Progressive in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,836,094,000. GQG Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Progressive in the 2nd quarter valued at $1,538,570,000. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG bought a new position in Progressive during the second quarter worth about $1,098,838,000. 85.34% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PGR has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Roth Capital reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $245.00 price objective on shares of Progressive in a report on Thursday, August 20th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Progressive from $198.00 to $201.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $230.00 target price on shares of Progressive in a research report on Wednesday, August 19th. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $208.00 target price on Progressive in a research report on Friday, May 22nd. Finally, William Blair reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Progressive in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $236.05.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Lori A. Niederst sold 7,339 shares of the business’s 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 transaction, the insider owned 42,567 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,908,847.43. The trade was a 14.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed 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, Director Jeffrey D. Kelly sold 7,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $216.33, for a total value of $1,514,310.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 22,546 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,877,376.18. This represents a 23.69% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 83,449 shares of company stock valued at $17,685,203 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.32% of the company’s stock.

Progressive Price Performance

Shares of NYSE PGR opened at $222.36 on Thursday. 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 business’s 50 day moving average is $216.64 and its 200-day moving average is $207.04. The Progressive Corporation has a 1-year low of $189.20 and a 1-year high of $249.83. The firm has a market cap of $129.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.96 and a beta of 0.27.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 15th. The insurance provider reported $5.67 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.64 by $1.03. Progressive had a return on equity of 32.92% and a net margin of 12.84%.The company had revenue of $23.61 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $19.49 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $5.40 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 5.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that The Progressive Corporation will post 17.74 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. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 1st will be issued a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 1st. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.2%. Progressive’s payout ratio is currently 2.01%.

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.