The Progressive Corporation $PGR Shares Purchased by GAMMA Investing LLC

Key Points

• GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in The Progressive Corporation by 19.9% during the 2nd quarter, owning a total of 12,907 shares worth approximately $3.44 million.
• The company posted a quarterly earnings result of $4.88 EPS, exceeding analysts' expectations of $4.43, and achieving a revenue of $20.08 billion, which is a 12.1% increase year-over-year.
• Progressive has announced a quarterly dividend of $0.10 per share to be paid on October 10th, reflecting an annual dividend yield of 0.2%.

GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in shares of The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR - Free Report) by 19.9% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 12,907 shares of the insurance provider's stock after acquiring an additional 2,144 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC's holdings in Progressive were worth $3,444,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State of Alaska Department of Revenue grew its stake in Progressive by 2.7% in the 1st quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 68,644 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $19,426,000 after buying an additional 1,800 shares during the last quarter. Trust Co. of Oklahoma bought a new position in Progressive in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $439,000. Belmont Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Progressive during the first quarter valued at $580,000. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI raised its stake in shares of Progressive by 87.9% during the first quarter. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI now owns 414,183 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $117,218,000 after acquiring an additional 193,800 shares during the last quarter. Finally, QRG Capital Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Progressive by 36.4% during the first quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 126,826 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $35,893,000 after buying an additional 33,864 shares during the period. 85.34% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Progressive Stock Down 0.4%

Shares of PGR stock traded down $1.08 on Monday, hitting $241.26. The stock had a trading volume of 2,316,539 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,545,675. The company has a market cap of $141.43 billion, a PE ratio of 13.59, a P/E/G ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.32. The company has a quick ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 0.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $245.70 and a 200 day moving average price of $262.95. The Progressive Corporation has a one year low of $228.54 and a one year high of $292.99.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 16th. The insurance provider reported $4.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.43 by $0.45. Progressive had a net margin of 12.66% and a return on equity of 35.37%. The firm had revenue of $20.08 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $20.39 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.48 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that The Progressive Corporation will post 14.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 2nd will be paid 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 2.25%.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Lori A. Niederst sold 8,063 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the insider owned 39,040 shares in the company, valued at $9,767,027.20. The trade was a 17.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Steven Broz sold 1,345 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $242.10, for a total value of $325,624.50. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 30,388 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,356,934.80. This trade represents a 4.24% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 140,045 shares of company stock worth $34,635,290. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PGR has been the topic of several analyst reports. Evercore ISI cut shares of Progressive from an "outperform" rating to an "in-line" rating and set a $275.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Thursday, July 17th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of Progressive from $267.00 to $265.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday. UBS Group lowered their price target 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. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded shares of Progressive to a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 13th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an "equal weight" rating and set a $265.00 price target (down previously from $327.00) on shares of Progressive in a report on Thursday. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $279.31.

About Progressive

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.