Beacon Pointe Advisors LLC Buys Shares of 42,790 The Progressive Corporation $PGR

Key Points

• Beacon Pointe Advisors bought 42,790 shares of Progressive worth approximately $9.35 million, while institutional investors collectively own 85.34% of the insurer’s stock.
• Analysts remain broadly cautious, with a consensus “Hold” rating and an average price target of $236.26; Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded the stock to “Outperform” with a $250 target.
• Progressive reported quarterly EPS of $5.67, exceeding estimates by $1.03, while revenue rose 5% year over year to $23.61 billion. The company also declared a quarterly dividend of $0.10 per share.

Beacon Pointe Advisors LLC purchased a new position in The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR - Free Report) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 42,790 shares of the insurance provider's stock, valued at approximately $9,346,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Pines Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Progressive by 3.9% during the fourth quarter. Pines Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,399 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $319,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares in the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Investment Management Company LLC lifted its stake in Progressive by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Northwestern Mutual Investment Management Company LLC now owns 18,736 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $4,267,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares during the last quarter. Phillips Wealth Planners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Progressive by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Phillips Wealth Planners LLC now owns 1,916 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $436,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. increased its position in shares of Progressive by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. now owns 4,307 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $981,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Brown Miller Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Progressive by 2.4% during the 2nd quarter. Brown Miller Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,365 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $517,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.34% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently weighed in on PGR. Mizuho set a $236.00 target price on Progressive in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. BMO Capital Markets reiterated a "market perform" rating on shares of Progressive in a research report on Wednesday, August 19th. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Progressive from an "underweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $190.00 to $210.00 in a research note on Friday, July 24th. Jefferies Financial Group restated a "hold" rating and issued a $228.00 price objective on shares of Progressive in a report on Wednesday, August 19th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised shares of Progressive from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and upped their price objective for the company from $226.00 to $250.00 in a research note on Thursday, August 20th. Seven 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $236.26.

Insider Transactions at Progressive

In related news, insider Steven Broz sold 1,225 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $219.40, for a total value of $268,765.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 31,257 shares in the company, valued at $6,857,785.80. The trade was a 3.77% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Karen Bailo sold 8,452 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $212.71, for a total transaction of $1,797,824.92. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 32,348 shares in the company, valued at $6,880,743.08. This trade represents a 20.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 83,449 shares of company stock valued at $17,685,203. 0.32% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Progressive Price Performance

PGR stock opened at $218.90 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $217.19 and a 200-day moving average price of $207.23. The Progressive Corporation has a 52-week low of $189.20 and a 52-week high of $249.83. The firm has a market capitalization of $127.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.98, a PEG ratio of 2.90 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 posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 15th. The insurance provider reported $5.67 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.64 by $1.03. Progressive had a return on equity of 32.92% and a net margin of 12.84%.The company had revenue of $23.61 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $19.49 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $5.40 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that The Progressive Corporation will post 17.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 9th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 1st will be issued a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 1st. Progressive's payout ratio is 2.01%.

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.

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