Martingale Asset Management L P Reduces Stake in The Progressive Corporation $PGR

Key Points

• Martingale Asset Management L P reduced its stake in The Progressive Corporation by 8%, selling 8,722 shares during the first quarter.
• Several institutional investors have made significant adjustments to their holdings, with Nuveen LLC acquiring a new stake worth $1.47 billion and GQG Partners LLC increasing its position by 61.4%.
• The Progressive Corporation announced a quarterly dividend of $0.10 per share, payable on October 10th, indicating a modest 0.2% dividend yield.

Martingale Asset Management L P lessened its stake in The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR - Free Report) by 8.0% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 100,458 shares of the insurance provider's stock after selling 8,722 shares during the quarter. Martingale Asset Management L P's holdings in Progressive were worth $28,431,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in PGR. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in Progressive during the first quarter worth approximately $1,473,180,000. GQG Partners LLC raised its holdings in Progressive by 61.4% in the 1st quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 8,346,133 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $2,362,039,000 after acquiring an additional 3,174,632 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in shares of Progressive by 39,285.0% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,046,037 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $862,059,000 after acquiring an additional 3,038,303 shares during the period. C WorldWide Group Holding A S grew its holdings in shares of Progressive by 12,110.3% during the 1st quarter. C WorldWide Group Holding A S now owns 1,248,628 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $353,374,000 after purchasing an additional 1,238,402 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its position in shares of Progressive by 18.1% in the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 5,983,567 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $1,433,722,000 after purchasing an additional 915,643 shares during the period. 85.34% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Progressive Trading Down 0.0%

NYSE PGR traded down $0.0130 on Friday, reaching $248.9370. The company had a trading volume of 2,532,861 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,191,144. The firm has a market cap of $145.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.02, a P/E/G ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 0.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 0.31 and a quick ratio of 0.31. The Progressive Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $228.54 and a fifty-two week high of $292.99. The business has a 50 day moving average of $251.40 and a two-hundred day moving average of $266.43.

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

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 2nd will be given a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.2%. Progressive's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 2.25%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CIO Jonathan S. Bauer sold 2,391 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.24, for a total transaction of $595,932.84. Following the completion of the sale, the executive owned 26,698 shares of the company's stock, valued at $6,654,209.52. This trade represents a 8.22% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Patrick K. Callahan sold 6,232 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, July 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $242.16, for a total transaction of $1,509,141.12. Following the sale, the insider owned 27,844 shares of the company's stock, valued at $6,742,703.04. This trade represents a 18.29% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 108,556 shares of company stock worth $27,306,166. Corporate insiders own 0.34% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PGR has been the subject of several analyst reports. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Progressive from $265.00 to $267.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of Progressive from $280.00 to $268.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, July 21st. Bank of America reduced their target price on Progressive from $337.00 to $336.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 17th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price target on Progressive from $309.00 to $287.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 11th. Finally, Barclays dropped their price objective on Progressive from $287.00 to $281.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $284.18.

Progressive 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.