BLI Banque de Luxembourg Investments Makes New $2.99 Million Investment in The Progressive Corporation $PGR

Key Points

• BLI Banque de Luxembourg Investments opened a new position in Progressive during the fourth quarter, buying 13,000 shares valued at about $2.99 million.
• Progressive continues to see heavy institutional participation, with 85.34% of shares owned by institutions, while analysts currently rate the stock a Hold on average with a mean price target of $238.11.
• The insurer reported better-than-expected EPS of $4.80 in its latest quarterly results and recently declared a $0.10 quarterly dividend, payable on July 10.

BLI Banque de Luxembourg Investments bought a new position in The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 13,000 shares of the insurance provider's stock, valued at approximately $2,990,000.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Dagco Inc. bought a new position in Progressive in the 4th quarter worth about $28,000. Ameriflex Group Inc. increased its stake in Progressive by 106.6% in the 3rd quarter. Ameriflex Group Inc. now owns 126 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. Entrust Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of Progressive during the 4th quarter valued at about $33,000. Kingdom Financial Group LLC. bought a new position in shares of Progressive during the 4th quarter valued at about $34,000. Finally, Bangor Savings Bank increased its position in shares of Progressive by 60.4% during the 4th quarter. Bangor Savings Bank now owns 154 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. 85.34% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently commented on PGR shares. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $225.00 price objective on shares of Progressive in a research report on Monday, February 23rd. Mizuho reduced their price objective on Progressive from $235.00 to $223.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 20th. Roth Mkm set a $235.00 price objective on Progressive in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $208.00 price objective on Progressive in a research report on Friday, May 22nd. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded Progressive from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 24th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Progressive currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $238.11.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Carl G. Joyce sold 270 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $206.50, for a total transaction of $55,755.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 558 shares in the company, valued at $115,227. This trade represents a 32.61% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Steven Broz sold 1,157 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $200.00, for a total value of $231,400.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 28,668 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,733,600. The trade was a 3.88% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 7,343 shares of company stock worth $1,470,355 in the last ninety days. 0.32% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Progressive Price Performance

PGR opened at $199.80 on Wednesday. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $198.87 and its 200 day simple moving average is $208.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 0.27 and a quick ratio of 0.27. The Progressive Corporation has a 1 year low of $189.20 and a 1 year high of $271.00. The firm has a market cap of $116.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.16, a PEG ratio of 5.80 and a beta of 0.28.

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

Progressive Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 2nd will be given a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 2nd. Progressive's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 2.03%.

Progressive 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.