Skylands Capital LLC Makes New $1.37 Million Investment in The Progressive Corporation $PGR

Key Points

• Skylands Capital LLC initiated a new position of 6,025 shares in The Progressive Corporation during Q4, valued at about $1.37 million.
• Institutional investors now own 85.34% of Progressive, with large funds such as Vanguard, State Street and Capital International notably increasing their holdings recently.
• Analysts hold a mixed view — the consensus rating is "Hold" with a $238.39 price target — while Progressive recently beat EPS expectations ($4.80 vs. $4.67) but missed revenue estimates.

Skylands Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 6,025 shares of the insurance provider's stock, valued at approximately $1,372,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Progressive by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 55,261,140 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $12,584,067,000 after buying an additional 593,612 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of Progressive by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 25,808,762 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $6,373,474,000 after buying an additional 78,374 shares during the period. Capital International Investors lifted its holdings in Progressive by 78.9% in the third quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 13,704,197 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $3,384,082,000 after acquiring an additional 6,045,732 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its holdings in Progressive by 26.1% in the third quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 11,167,940 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $2,757,905,000 after acquiring an additional 2,314,864 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc grew its position in Progressive by 4.9% in the third quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 4,196,111 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $1,036,230,000 after acquiring an additional 197,603 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.34% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PGR has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Piper Sandler reissued an "overweight" rating and set a $259.00 target price on shares of Progressive in a research note on Monday, March 2nd. Bank of America increased their price target on Progressive from $295.00 to $298.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 14th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on Progressive from $205.00 to $190.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 31st. 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. Finally, UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Progressive from $218.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, March 23rd. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $238.39.

Progressive Trading Up 0.6%

PGR opened at $202.08 on Tuesday. The Progressive Corporation has a 52 week low of $192.02 and a 52 week high of $289.96. The company has a quick ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 0.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $203.33 and a 200-day simple moving average of $212.80. The firm has a market cap of $118.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.27, a P/E/G ratio of 6.63 and a beta of 0.34.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 15th. The insurance provider reported $4.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.67 by $0.13. Progressive had a return on equity of 33.47% and a net margin of 12.92%.The firm had revenue of $22.19 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $23.51 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $4.37 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 6.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that The Progressive Corporation will post 16.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 2nd were paid a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 2nd. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.2%. Progressive's dividend payout ratio is 2.03%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Progressive

In other news, insider Maribel Pumarejo sold 739 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $203.25, for a total value of $150,201.75. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CIO Jonathan S. Bauer sold 2,266 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $203.05, for a total transaction of $460,111.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive owned 26,250 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,330,062.50. This trade represents a 7.95% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders sold 6,933 shares of company stock worth $1,441,564. 0.32% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About Progressive

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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