29,916 Shares in The Progressive Corporation $PGR Bought by MASTERINVEST Kapitalanlage GmbH

Key Points

• MASTERINVEST Kapitalanlage GmbH purchased 29,916 shares of Progressive worth approximately $6.5 million, while institutional investors collectively own 85.34% of the insurer.
• Progressive reported strong quarterly results, with EPS of $5.67 beating estimates by $1.03 and revenue of $23.61 billion, up 5% year over year.
• Analyst sentiment remains mixed: the consensus rating is “Hold” with an average price target of $236.26, although Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded the stock to “Outperform” and raised its target to $250.

MASTERINVEST Kapitalanlage GmbH purchased a new position in The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR - Free Report) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 29,916 shares of the insurance provider's stock, valued at approximately $6,535,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in Progressive in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $10,496,271,000. State Street Corp grew its holdings in Progressive by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 25,808,762 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $6,373,474,000 after buying an additional 78,374 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors raised its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 1,217,527 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE bought a new stake in shares of Progressive during the second quarter valued at approximately $2,682,342,000. Finally, GQG Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Progressive by 11.7% in the fourth quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 10,432,549 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $2,375,706,000 after buying an additional 1,092,151 shares in the last quarter. 85.34% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Progressive Trading Down 2.2%

PGR stock opened at $217.51 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $216.90 and a 200 day moving average price of $207.15. The Progressive Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $189.20 and a fifty-two week high of $249.83. The firm has a market cap of $126.45 billion, a PE ratio of 10.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.96 and a beta of 0.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a quick ratio of 0.29 and a current ratio of 0.29.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 15th. The insurance provider reported $5.67 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $19.49 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $5.40 earnings per share. Progressive's quarterly revenue was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that The Progressive Corporation will post 17.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 9th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 1st will be given a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 1st. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.2%. Progressive's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 2.01%.

Insider Activity at Progressive

In other news, insider Karen Bailo sold 8,452 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $212.71, for a total value of $1,797,824.92. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 32,348 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,880,743.08. The trade was a 20.72% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Andrew J. Quigg sold 3,499 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $220.00, for a total value of $769,780.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 42,595 shares in the company, valued at $9,370,900. The trade was a 7.59% decrease in their position. 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 a total of 83,449 shares of company stock valued at $17,685,203 over the last ninety days. 0.32% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised shares of Progressive from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and raised their target price for the company from $226.00 to $250.00 in a research note on Thursday, August 20th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a "hold (c)" rating on shares of Progressive in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. HSBC increased their price objective on shares of Progressive from $214.00 to $221.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, July 6th. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $208.00 price objective on Progressive in a research report on Friday, May 22nd. Finally, Evercore set a $240.00 target price on Progressive in a report on Friday, July 10th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $236.26.

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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