Challenger Wealth Management Acquires New Shares in The Progressive Corporation $PGR

Key Points

• Challenger Wealth Management acquired a new stake in The Progressive Corporation, purchasing 1,100 shares valued at approximately $311,000.
• The Progressive Corporation reported $4.88 EPS for the last quarter, exceeding estimates, with 12.1% year-over-year revenue growth.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.10 per share, which will be paid on October 10th, reflecting an annualized yield of 0.2%.

Challenger Wealth Management acquired a new stake in The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 1,100 shares of the insurance provider's stock, valued at approximately $311,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Highline Wealth Partners LLC raised its stake in Progressive by 114.0% in the first quarter. Highline Wealth Partners LLC now owns 92 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 49 shares during the period. TruNorth Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Progressive by 210.0% in the first quarter. TruNorth Capital Management LLC now owns 93 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 63 shares during the period. HWG Holdings LP bought a new stake in Progressive in the first quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Minot DeBlois Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Progressive in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Finally, Garde Capital Inc. bought a new stake in Progressive in the first quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Institutional investors own 85.34% of the company's stock.

Progressive Price Performance

Shares of PGR stock traded down $0.51 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $248.29. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,612,107 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,408,336. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $246.44 and its 200-day simple moving average is $264.68. The company has a market capitalization of $145.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.99, a PEG ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 0.32. The Progressive Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $228.54 and a fifty-two week high of $292.99. The company has a quick ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 0.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR - Get Free Report) last issued its 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 firm had revenue of $20.08 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $20.39 billion. Progressive had a return on equity of 35.37% and a net margin of 12.66%.The company's revenue was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.48 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that The Progressive Corporation will post 14.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 2nd will be issued a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 2nd. Progressive's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 2.25%.

Insider Transactions at Progressive

In other Progressive news, insider Patrick K. Callahan sold 6,232 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, August 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.96, for a total value of $1,557,750.72. Following the sale, the insider owned 21,612 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,402,135.52. This trade represents a 22.38% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Susan Patricia Griffith sold 30,659 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $246.06, for a total value of $7,543,953.54. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 476,286 shares in the company, valued at approximately $117,194,933.16. This trade represents a 6.05% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 139,010 shares of company stock worth $34,547,699. 0.34% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. UBS Group lowered their target price on Progressive from $280.00 to $268.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, July 21st. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Progressive from $265.00 to $267.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, August 22nd. Wall Street Zen raised Progressive from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Saturday. Bank of America increased their price target on Progressive from $344.00 to $347.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target on Progressive from $281.00 to $279.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 21st. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $284.82.

Progressive Company 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.