Aberdeen Group plc Raises Position in The Progressive Corporation $PGR

Key Points

• Aberdeen Group plc increased its stake in The Progressive Corporation by 28.0%, acquiring an additional 96,426 shares during the 1st quarter, bringing their total holdings to 440,937 shares valued at $124.5 million.
• Insiders at Progressive sold a total of 104,250 shares worth approximately $26.3 million in the last 90 days, representing significant reductions in their ownership positions.
• The company's most recent earnings report showed an EPS of $4.88, surpassing estimates and reflecting a 12.1% year-over-year revenue increase to $20.08 billion.

Aberdeen Group plc increased its holdings in The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR - Free Report) by 28.0% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 440,937 shares of the insurance provider's stock after purchasing an additional 96,426 shares during the period. Aberdeen Group plc owned 0.08% of Progressive worth $124,516,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in shares of Progressive by 2.5% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,853,854 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $524,610,000 after buying an additional 45,313 shares during the last quarter. Horizon Investments LLC boosted its position in shares of Progressive by 4.3% during the first quarter. Horizon Investments LLC now owns 10,155 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $2,873,000 after acquiring an additional 417 shares during the last quarter. Seaview Investment Managers LLC purchased a new position in Progressive during the first quarter valued at $9,050,000. Sei Investments Co. increased its holdings in Progressive by 1.6% in the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 498,639 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $141,120,000 after acquiring an additional 7,835 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc. lifted its stake in Progressive by 21.3% in the 1st quarter. Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc. now owns 1,586 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $449,000 after purchasing an additional 279 shares in the last quarter. 85.34% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on PGR. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on Progressive from $288.00 to $281.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, July 18th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Progressive from $275.00 to $265.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 11th. Cantor Fitzgerald raised Progressive to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 13th. Evercore ISI cut Progressive from an "outperform" rating to an "in-line" rating and set a $275.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Thursday, July 17th. Finally, Citigroup initiated coverage on Progressive in a research report on Wednesday, August 13th. They set a "buy" rating and a $312.00 target price for the company. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Progressive presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $284.53.

Insider Activity at Progressive

In other Progressive news, insider Lori A. Niederst sold 8,063 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.18, for a total value of $2,017,201.34. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 39,040 shares of the company's stock, valued at $9,767,027.20. The trade was a 17.12% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Susan Patricia Griffith sold 30,660 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $242.12, for a total transaction of $7,423,399.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 506,945 shares in the company, valued at $122,741,523.40. This represents a 5.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 112,313 shares of company stock worth $28,349,549 over the last ninety days. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Progressive Trading Up 0.6%

Shares of NYSE PGR traded up $1.6040 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $252.2440. The company's stock had a trading volume of 3,662,057 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,146,357. The Progressive Corporation has a 12-month low of $228.54 and a 12-month high of $292.99. The company has a current ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 0.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. The firm has a market cap of $147.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 0.33. The business's 50 day moving average is $252.16 and its two-hundred day moving average is $266.31.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 16th. The insurance provider reported $4.88 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.43 by $0.45. Progressive had a return on equity of 35.37% and a net margin of 12.66%.The company had revenue of $20.08 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $20.39 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.48 EPS. Progressive's quarterly revenue was up 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that The Progressive Corporation will post 14.68 EPS for the current year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 2nd will be paid a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.2%. Progressive's dividend payout ratio is presently 2.25%.

Progressive Profile

The Progressive Corporation, an insurance holding company, provides personal and commercial auto, personal residential and commercial property, business related general liability, and other specialty property-casualty insurance products and related services in the United States. It operates in three segments: Personal Lines, Commercial Lines, and Property.