Summit Asset Management LLC Purchases New Position in The Progressive Corporation $PGR

Key Points

• Summit Asset Management acquired 5,947 Progressive shares in the second quarter, valued at approximately $1.3 million. Institutional investors collectively own 85.34% of the insurer.
• Progressive reported quarterly EPS of $5.67, beating estimates of $4.64, while revenue rose 5% year over year to $23.61 billion. The company also declared a quarterly dividend of $0.10 per share.
• Analysts maintain a consensus “Hold” rating with an average price target of $235, compared with shares recently trading near $209.48. Company insiders sold roughly $15.9 million of stock over the past three months.

Summit Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR - Free Report) in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 5,947 shares of the insurance provider's stock, valued at approximately $1,299,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Kelleher Financial Advisors purchased a new position in shares of Progressive during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $246,000. GSA Capital Partners LLP bought a new position in shares of Progressive in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $470,000. Stoneridge Investment Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Progressive in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $703,000. Avalon Trust Co purchased a new position in shares of Progressive in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $25,872,000. Finally, Pacific Sage Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Progressive during the second quarter valued at approximately $1,589,000. 85.34% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Progressive Stock Up 0.3%

Shares of Progressive stock opened at $209.48 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a quick ratio of 0.29 and a current ratio of 0.29. The stock has a market capitalization of $121.79 billion, a PE ratio of 10.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.27. The Progressive Corporation has a 52-week low of $189.20 and a 52-week high of $254.93. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $214.36 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $206.47.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 15th. The insurance provider reported $5.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.64 by $1.03. Progressive had a net margin of 12.84% and a return on equity of 32.92%. The firm had revenue of $23.61 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $19.49 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $5.40 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 5.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that The Progressive Corporation will post 17.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 9th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 1st will be given a $0.10 dividend. 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%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on PGR shares. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on Progressive from $205.00 to $198.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. Bank of America lowered their price objective on Progressive from $313.00 to $308.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. Mizuho set a $236.00 target price on shares of Progressive in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Evercore set a $240.00 price target on shares of Progressive in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Finally, HSBC lifted their price target on shares of Progressive from $214.00 to $221.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, July 6th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $235.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Karen Bailo sold 8,452 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, July 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $212.71, for a total value of $1,797,824.92. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 32,348 shares in the company, valued at $6,880,743.08. The trade was a 20.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction 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, CEO Susan Patricia Griffith sold 37,338 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, July 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $212.71, for a total value of $7,942,165.98. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 522,776 shares in the company, valued at approximately $111,199,682.96. The trade was a 6.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 a total of 74,885 shares of company stock worth $15,880,459 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.32% of the company's stock.

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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