16,528 Shares in The Progressive Corporation $PGR Bought by United Capital Financial Advisors LLC

United Capital Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR - Free Report) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 16,528 shares of the insurance provider's stock, valued at approximately $3,610,000.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently commented on PGR shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Progressive from $250.00 to $241.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, August 4th. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a "hold" rating and issued a $228.00 target price on shares of Progressive in a report on Wednesday, August 19th. Roth Capital reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $245.00 target price on shares of Progressive in a research report on Thursday, August 20th. Bank of America cut their price target on Progressive from $313.00 to $308.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded Progressive from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $226.00 to $250.00 in a report on Thursday, August 20th. Seven 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $236.26.

Progressive Stock Performance

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

Progressive (NYSE:PGR - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 15th. The insurance provider reported $5.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.64 by $1.03. The business had revenue of $23.61 billion during 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 revenue for the quarter was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $5.40 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that The Progressive Corporation will post 17.74 EPS for the current year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The business 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 dividend of $0.10 per share. 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%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider John Jo Murphy sold 8,124 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the insider directly owned 41,291 shares of the company's stock, valued at $8,782,595.70. The trade was a 16.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Karen Bailo sold 8,452 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $212.71, for a total value of $1,797,824.92. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 32,348 shares in the company, valued at $6,880,743.08. The trade was a 20.72% 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. Insiders sold 83,449 shares of company stock valued at $17,685,203 over the last 90 days. 0.32% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.

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