Sanctuary Advisors LLC Makes New Investment in The Progressive Corporation $PGR

Key Points

• Sanctuary Advisors initiated a roughly $16.8 million position in Progressive during the second quarter, while institutional investors collectively own 85.34% of the insurer.
• Analyst sentiment remains mixed: Progressive has a consensus “Hold” rating and a $236.05 average price target, although Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded the stock to “Outperform” with a $250 target.
• Progressive reported strong quarterly results, earning $5.67 per share versus the $4.64 consensus estimate and generating $23.61 billion in revenue. The company also declared a quarterly dividend of $0.10 per share, equal to a 0.2% annualized yield.

Sanctuary Advisors LLC bought a new stake in The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR - Free Report) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 76,937 shares of the insurance provider's stock, valued at approximately $16,807,000.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Meeder Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Progressive in the second quarter valued at about $26,000. Bard Associates Inc. bought a new position in shares of Progressive during the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. IMG Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new position in Progressive during the second quarter worth about $26,000. Bogart Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in Progressive by 235.1% during the first quarter. Bogart Wealth LLC now owns 124 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 87 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kilter Group LLC bought a new stake in Progressive in the 2nd quarter worth about $27,000. Institutional investors own 85.34% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on PGR shares. William Blair reaffirmed a "market perform" rating on shares of Progressive in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Progressive from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $208.00 price objective on Progressive in a research note on Friday, May 22nd. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "hold (c)" rating on shares of Progressive in a research report on Monday, August 3rd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded Progressive from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $226.00 to $250.00 in a research note on Thursday. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $236.05.

Insider Buying and Selling at Progressive

In other Progressive news, CIO Jonathan S. Bauer sold 2,242 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $212.71, for a total transaction of $476,895.82. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive owned 26,250 shares in the company, valued at $5,583,637.50. This trade represents a 7.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Lori A. Niederst sold 7,339 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $209.29, for a total transaction of $1,535,979.31. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 42,567 shares of the company's stock, valued at $8,908,847.43. The trade was a 14.71% 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. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 82,224 shares of company stock valued at $17,416,438. Insiders own 0.32% of the company's stock.

Progressive Price Performance

Progressive stock opened at $219.45 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $215.53 and its 200 day simple moving average is $206.66. The Progressive Corporation has a 12 month low of $189.20 and a 12 month high of $252.82. The company has a market cap of $127.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.01, a PEG ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 0.27.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 15th. The insurance provider reported $5.67 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $4.64 by $1.03. The firm had revenue of $23.61 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $19.49 billion. Progressive had a return on equity of 32.92% and a net margin of 12.84%.The business's revenue for the quarter was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $5.40 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that The Progressive Corporation will post 17.71 EPS for the current year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 9th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 1st. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.2%. Progressive's dividend payout ratio is 2.01%.

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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