Nordea Investment Management AB Has $371.04 Million Stock Position in The Progressive Corporation $PGR

Key Points

• Nordea Investment Management AB reduced its stake in The Progressive Corporation by 0.6%, holding approximately 1.4 million shares valued at $371.04 million.
• Progressive reported an earnings per share (EPS) of $4.45 for the latest quarter, missing analysts' expectations of $5.04, along with a revenue of $21.38 billion.
• Insider selling has been notable, with Patrick K. Callahan and Lori A. Niederst reducing their holdings, contributing to a total of 128,778 shares sold by insiders in the last 90 days.

Nordea Investment Management AB cut its stake in The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR - Free Report) by 0.6% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,401,116 shares of the insurance provider's stock after selling 8,716 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB owned approximately 0.24% of Progressive worth $371,044,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. TruNorth Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Progressive by 210.0% in the 1st quarter. TruNorth Capital Management LLC now owns 93 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 63 shares during the period. HWG Holdings LP acquired a new position in Progressive in the 1st quarter worth $28,000. Garde Capital Inc. acquired a new position in Progressive in the 1st quarter worth $33,000. Ransom Advisory Ltd acquired a new position in Progressive in the 1st quarter worth $35,000. Finally, Activest Wealth Management boosted its stake in Progressive by 6,350.0% in the 1st quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 129 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 127 shares during the period. 85.34% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on PGR shares. Cantor Fitzgerald raised shares of Progressive to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Progressive from $301.00 to $303.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on shares of Progressive from $270.00 to $262.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of Progressive from $266.00 to $246.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on shares of Progressive from $275.00 to $273.00 and set an "in-line" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 1st. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and thirteen have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $276.96.

Progressive Stock Down 2.2%

Shares of PGR stock opened at $221.60 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a quick ratio of 0.31 and a current ratio of 0.32. The firm's 50-day moving average is $244.15 and its 200-day moving average is $258.46. The stock has a market cap of $129.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.16, a PEG ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 0.32. The Progressive Corporation has a 52-week low of $217.20 and a 52-week high of $292.99.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 15th. The insurance provider reported $4.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $5.04 by ($0.59). The firm had revenue of $21.38 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $21.64 billion. Progressive had a net margin of 12.57% and a return on equity of 33.88%. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.58 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that The Progressive Corporation will post 14.68 EPS for the current year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 2nd were 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 was Thursday, October 2nd. Progressive's dividend payout ratio is presently 2.25%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Progressive news, insider Patrick K. Callahan sold 6,420 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $242.22, for a total value of $1,555,052.40. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 15,192 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,679,806.24. This represents a 29.71% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Lori A. Niederst sold 8,063 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.18, for a total transaction of $2,017,201.34. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 39,040 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,767,027.20. This represents a 17.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 128,778 shares of company stock worth $31,683,756 in the last 90 days. 0.34% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.

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