Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership Buys 1,454,111 Shares of The Progressive Corporation $PGR

Key Points

• Arrowstreet Capital sharply increased its stake in Progressive, buying 1,454,111 shares in the fourth quarter and raising its position by 193.2% to 2.21 million shares worth about $502.5 million.
• Insider selling continued at Progressive, including a June sale by John Jo Murphy and a March sale by Carl G. Joyce; insiders have sold 7,343 shares over the last 90 days.
• Progressive recently beat earnings estimates with quarterly EPS of $4.80 versus $4.67 expected, while revenue came in below forecasts. Analysts currently rate the stock a consensus “Hold” with an average price target of $238.11.

Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its stake in The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR - Free Report) by 193.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,206,742 shares of the insurance provider's stock after acquiring an additional 1,454,111 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership owned 0.38% of Progressive worth $502,519,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Klingman & Associates LLC raised its stake in shares of Progressive by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Klingman & Associates LLC now owns 2,927 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $667,000 after acquiring an additional 48 shares in the last quarter. Revisor Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Progressive by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. Revisor Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,902 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $395,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Cullen Investment Group LTD. raised its stake in shares of Progressive by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Cullen Investment Group LTD. now owns 7,463 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $1,606,000 after acquiring an additional 52 shares in the last quarter. Pines Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Progressive by 3.9% in the 4th quarter. Pines Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,399 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $319,000 after acquiring an additional 52 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northwestern Mutual Investment Management Company LLC raised its stake in shares of Progressive by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Northwestern Mutual Investment Management Company LLC now owns 18,736 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $4,267,000 after acquiring an additional 52 shares in the last quarter. 85.34% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Progressive

In other news, insider John Jo Murphy sold 5,916 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $200.00, for a total transaction of $1,183,200.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 41,290 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $8,258,000. This trade represents a 12.53% 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, CAO Carl G. Joyce sold 270 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $206.50, for a total value of $55,755.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 558 shares in the company, valued at $115,227. The trade was a 32.61% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 7,343 shares of company stock valued at $1,470,355 in the last 90 days. 0.32% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on PGR. Argus raised Progressive to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 5th. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $208.00 price objective on Progressive in a research note on Friday, May 22nd. Roth Mkm set a $235.00 price objective on Progressive in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. Evercore reissued a "negative" rating on shares of Progressive in a research note on Wednesday, March 18th. Finally, Mizuho lowered their target price on Progressive from $235.00 to $223.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 20th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $238.11.

Progressive Stock Performance

PGR opened at $202.86 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $118.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.89 and a beta of 0.28. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $199.20 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $208.05. The company has a quick ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 0.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The Progressive Corporation has a 12-month low of $189.20 and a 12-month high of $269.84.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 15th. The insurance provider reported $4.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $4.67 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $22.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $23.51 billion. Progressive had a return on equity of 33.47% and a net margin of 12.92%.The company's revenue was up 6.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $4.37 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that The Progressive Corporation will post 16.35 earnings per share for the current year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 2nd will be issued a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 2nd. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.2%. Progressive's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 2.03%.

Progressive Company 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.

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding PGR? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR - Free Report).

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.