Bayforest Capital Ltd Has $537,000 Stock Holdings in The Progressive Corporation $PGR

Key Points

• Bayforest Capital Ltd increased its stake in The Progressive Corporation by 234.6%, now owning 1,897 shares valued at approximately $537,000.
• Several institutional investors have also expanded their holdings in Progressive, with Nuveen LLC acquiring a position valued at about $1.47 billion.
• Progressive announced a quarterly dividend of $0.10 per share, representing an annualized yield of 0.2%.

Bayforest Capital Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR - Free Report) by 234.6% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,897 shares of the insurance provider's stock after purchasing an additional 1,330 shares during the period. Bayforest Capital Ltd's holdings in Progressive were worth $537,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Integrated Advisors Network LLC lifted its stake in Progressive by 1.0% during the first quarter. Integrated Advisors Network LLC now owns 3,808 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $1,078,000 after purchasing an additional 36 shares during the period. Rise Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Progressive by 7.4% during the first quarter. Rise Advisors LLC now owns 521 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $147,000 after purchasing an additional 36 shares during the period. Pines Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Progressive by 3.0% during the first quarter. Pines Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,287 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $335,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares during the period. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Progressive by 2.0% during the first quarter. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,940 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $549,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the period. Finally, Beacon Financial Group lifted its stake in Progressive by 1.1% during the first quarter. Beacon Financial Group now owns 3,659 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $1,036,000 after purchasing an additional 39 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 85.34% of the company's stock.

Progressive Price Performance

Shares of Progressive stock traded down $0.51 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $248.29. The company had a trading volume of 2,612,107 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,408,336. 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 company has a market capitalization of $145.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 0.32. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $246.44 and a 200 day simple moving average of $264.74. The Progressive Corporation has a 1-year low of $228.54 and a 1-year high of $292.99.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 16th. The insurance provider reported $4.88 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $4.43 by $0.45. The business had revenue of $20.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $20.39 billion. Progressive had a net margin of 12.66% and a return on equity of 35.37%. Progressive's revenue for the quarter was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.48 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that The Progressive Corporation will post 14.68 earnings per share 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 issued a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 2nd. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.2%. Progressive's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 2.25%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Progressive news, insider John Jo Murphy sold 2,218 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction on Friday, August 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.78, for a total transaction of $556,230.04. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 45,724 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $11,466,664.72. The trade was a 4.63% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Lori A. Niederst sold 8,063 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.18, for a total transaction of $2,017,201.34. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 39,040 shares of the company's stock, valued at $9,767,027.20. This represents a 17.12% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 139,010 shares of company stock valued at $34,547,699 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.34% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PGR has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Progressive from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, July 18th. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Progressive from $280.00 to $268.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 21st. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Progressive from $330.00 to $327.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 21st. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on shares of Progressive from $281.00 to $279.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 21st. Finally, Evercore ISI lowered shares of Progressive from an "outperform" rating to an "in-line" rating and set a $275.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Thursday, July 17th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $284.82.

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.