14,007 Shares in The Progressive Corporation $PGR Bought by Jefferies Financial Group Inc.

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR - Free Report) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 14,007 shares of the insurance provider's stock, valued at approximately $3,060,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Bank of Nova Scotia acquired a new stake in shares of Progressive during the second quarter worth $76,260,000. Allstate Corp lifted 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 period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Progressive in the fourth quarter valued at $1,836,094,000. Investment House LLC bought a new stake in Progressive during the fourth quarter valued at $8,447,000. Finally, Callan Family Office LLC acquired a new stake in Progressive during the 2nd quarter worth about $3,025,000. 85.34% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Progressive

In related news, insider Karen Bailo sold 8,452 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $212.71, for a total transaction of $1,797,824.92. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 32,348 shares in the company, valued at $6,880,743.08. This represents a 20.72% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, 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 8,124 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $212.70, for a total transaction of $1,727,974.80. Following 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 disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 83,449 shares of company stock worth $17,685,203. 0.32% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Cantor Fitzgerald decreased 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. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $208.00 price target on Progressive in a report on Friday, May 22nd. Evercore set a $240.00 price objective on shares of Progressive in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a "hold (c)" rating on shares of Progressive in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. Finally, UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Progressive from $225.00 to $234.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $236.26.

Progressive Trading Up 0.6%

Shares of Progressive stock opened at $218.90 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $127.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.27. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $217.19 and a 200 day simple moving average of $207.23. The Progressive Corporation has a 12-month low of $189.20 and a 12-month high of $249.83. The company has a current ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 15th. The insurance provider reported $5.67 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $4.64 by $1.03. The business had revenue of $23.61 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $19.49 billion. Progressive had a return on equity of 32.92% and a net margin of 12.84%.Progressive's quarterly revenue was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $5.40 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that The Progressive Corporation will post 17.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 9th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 1st will be given a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 1st. Progressive's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.

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