The Progressive Corporation $PGR is BloombergSen Inc.'s 2nd Largest Position

Key Points

• BloombergSen Inc. decreased its position in The Progressive Corporation by 8.9% in Q2, holding approximately 608,064 shares, making it the firm's second largest investment.
• Progressive's stock currently has a mixed analyst outlook, with six Buy ratings and twelve Hold ratings, including a recent price target adjustment from Bank of America to $350.00.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.10 to be paid on October 10th, reflecting an annual yield of 0.2% and a payout ratio of 2.25%.

BloombergSen Inc. lowered its position in The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR - Free Report) by 8.9% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 608,064 shares of the insurance provider's stock after selling 59,352 shares during the quarter. Progressive makes up approximately 10.0% of BloombergSen Inc.'s portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest position. BloombergSen Inc. owned about 0.10% of Progressive worth $162,268,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Baron Silver Stevens Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Progressive in the second quarter worth approximately $306,000. State of Alaska Department of Revenue grew its position in Progressive by 2.7% during the 1st quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 68,644 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $19,426,000 after acquiring an additional 1,800 shares during the last quarter. Trust Co. of Oklahoma bought a new position in Progressive during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $439,000. Belmont Capital LLC bought a new position in Progressive during the 1st quarter worth approximately $580,000. Finally, Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI grew its position in Progressive by 87.9% during the 1st quarter. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI now owns 414,183 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $117,218,000 after acquiring an additional 193,800 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.34% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Bank of America raised their price target on Progressive from $343.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday. Wells Fargo & Company restated an "equal weight" rating and set a $265.00 price target (down from $327.00) on shares of Progressive in a research report on Thursday, September 18th. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded Progressive to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 13th. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on Progressive in a research report on Monday, September 15th. They set a "peer perform" rating on the stock. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price target on Progressive from $309.00 to $287.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 11th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $279.63.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Steven Broz sold 1,345 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, September 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $242.10, for a total value of $325,624.50. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 30,388 shares of the company's stock, valued at $7,356,934.80. This represents a 4.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Lori A. Niederst sold 8,063 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.18, for a total value of $2,017,201.34. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 39,040 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,767,027.20. The trade was a 17.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 130,045 shares of company stock valued at $31,997,390 over the last 90 days. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Progressive Price Performance

Shares of PGR stock opened at $246.73 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $144.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.90, a P/E/G ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 0.32. The Progressive Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $228.54 and a fifty-two week high of $292.99. The business's 50 day moving average price is $245.31 and its 200-day moving average price is $261.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 0.31 and a current ratio of 0.31.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 16th. The insurance provider reported $4.88 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $4.43 by $0.45. The firm had revenue of $20.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $20.39 billion. Progressive had a return on equity of 35.37% and a net margin of 12.66%.The business's quarterly revenue was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.48 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that The Progressive Corporation will post 14.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 2nd will be paid a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 2nd. Progressive's dividend payout ratio is presently 2.25%.

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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