LPL Financial LLC Boosts Holdings in The Progressive Corporation $PGR

Key Points

• LPL Financial LLC increased its stake in Progressive by 4.9% in the fourth quarter, buying 27,622 additional shares and lifting its holdings to 589,891 shares worth about $134.3 million.
• Analyst sentiment on Progressive is mixed: six rate it a Buy, fourteen a Hold, and two a Sell, with a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $238.11.
• Progressive reported Q1 earnings of $4.80 per share, beating estimates, while revenue rose 6.5% year over year; the company also announced a quarterly dividend of $0.10 per share.

LPL Financial LLC boosted its position in The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR - Free Report) by 4.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 589,891 shares of the insurance provider's stock after buying an additional 27,622 shares during the period. LPL Financial LLC owned approximately 0.10% of Progressive worth $134,330,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Klingman & Associates LLC grew its position in Progressive by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Klingman & Associates LLC now owns 2,927 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $667,000 after buying an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. Revisor Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Progressive by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. Revisor Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,902 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $395,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Cullen Investment Group LTD. grew its position in Progressive by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Cullen Investment Group LTD. now owns 7,463 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $1,606,000 after buying an additional 52 shares during the last quarter. Pines Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Progressive by 3.9% in the 4th quarter. Pines Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,399 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $319,000 after buying an additional 52 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northwestern Mutual Investment Management Company LLC grew its position in Progressive by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Northwestern Mutual Investment Management Company LLC now owns 18,736 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $4,267,000 after buying an additional 52 shares during the last quarter. 85.34% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Barclays set a $247.00 price objective on shares of Progressive in a research report on Wednesday, March 18th. Mizuho lowered their price objective on shares of Progressive from $235.00 to $223.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 20th. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $208.00 price objective on shares of Progressive in a research report on Friday, May 22nd. Piper Sandler restated an "overweight" rating and set a $259.00 target price on shares of Progressive in a research report on Monday, March 2nd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group decreased their target price on shares of Progressive from $216.00 to $215.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $238.11.

Progressive Price Performance

Shares of NYSE PGR opened at $204.12 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $119.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.38, a PEG ratio of 5.80 and a beta of 0.28. The Progressive Corporation has a one year low of $189.20 and a one year high of $269.84. The company's fifty day moving average is $198.93 and its two-hundred day moving average is $208.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 0.27 and a current ratio of 0.27.

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

Progressive Announces Dividend

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

Insider Transactions at Progressive

In other news, insider John Jo Murphy sold 5,916 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction on Friday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $200.00, for a total transaction of $1,183,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 41,290 shares of the company's stock, valued at $8,258,000. The trade was a 12.53% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Steven Broz sold 1,157 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction 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 directly owned 28,668 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,733,600. This trade represents a 3.88% decrease in their position. 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 sold 7,343 shares of company stock valued at $1,470,355 in the last 90 days. 0.32% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.

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