Vanguard Group Inc. Raises Stake in The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR)

Key Points

• Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in The Progressive Corporation by 1.2%, acquiring an additional 622,590 shares, bringing its total ownership to approximately 54 million shares valued at $15.29 billion.
• Several institutional investors, including Northern Trust Corp and Capital Research Global Investors, have also recently boosted their positions in Progressive, with institutional investors holding over 85% of the company's stock.
• The company reported $4.88** earnings per share (EPS)** for the last quarter, exceeding analysts' expectations, while its revenue rose 12.1% year-over-year despite falling slightly short of estimates.

Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR - Free Report) by 1.2% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 54,022,956 shares of the insurance provider's stock after acquiring an additional 622,590 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned about 9.22% of Progressive worth $15,289,037,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. raised its stake in Progressive by 47.1% during the 1st quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 275,535 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $77,979,000 after acquiring an additional 88,201 shares during the period. Renasant Bank increased its stake in shares of Progressive by 37.5% in the first quarter. Renasant Bank now owns 2,488 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $704,000 after purchasing an additional 678 shares in the last quarter. Associated Banc Corp bought a new stake in shares of Progressive during the 1st quarter valued at $214,000. Levin Capital Strategies L.P. purchased a new position in shares of Progressive during the 1st quarter valued at $479,000. Finally, Empower Advisory Group LLC boosted its holdings in Progressive by 12.5% in the 1st quarter. Empower Advisory Group LLC now owns 271,856 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $76,938,000 after buying an additional 30,142 shares during the period. 85.34% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 16,664 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, July 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.24, for a total value of $4,153,335.36. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 228,024 shares in the company, valued at $56,832,701.76. This trade represents a 6.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider John Jo Murphy sold 4,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, June 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $260.38, for a total transaction of $1,041,520.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 41,289 shares in the company, valued at $10,750,829.82. This trade represents a 8.83% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 104,250 shares of company stock worth $26,332,348. Company insiders own 0.34% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PGR has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Barclays decreased their price target on Progressive from $297.00 to $287.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, July 7th. UBS Group decreased their target price on Progressive from $280.00 to $268.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, July 21st. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on Progressive from $288.00 to $281.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, July 18th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price objective on shares of Progressive from $327.00 to $319.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 11th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Progressive from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, July 18th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Progressive has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $286.88.

Progressive Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:PGR traded down $2.16 on Thursday, reaching $245.36. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,042,363 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,702,400. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $257.56 and a 200 day simple moving average of $266.03. The Progressive Corporation has a 52-week low of $214.99 and a 52-week high of $292.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 0.29 and a current ratio of 0.31. The company has a market cap of $143.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.82, a PEG ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 0.33.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR - Get Free Report) last announced 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 net margin of 12.66% and a return on equity of 35.37%. The firm had revenue of $20.08 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $20.39 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.48 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that The Progressive Corporation will post 14.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 11th. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 4th were given a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 3rd. This represents a dividend yield of 15.0%. Progressive's payout ratio is currently 2.25%.

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.