The Progressive Corporation $PGR Shares Sold by BloombergSen Inc.

Key Points

• BloombergSen Inc. cut its stake in Progressive by 7.2% in the fourth quarter, but the insurer still remained a major holding, representing 9.3% of the fund’s portfolio.
• Several Progressive insiders sold shares recently, including Karen Bailo and CIO Jonathan S. Bauer, while insiders overall hold just 0.32% of the stock.
• Progressive reported Q1 earnings of $4.80 per share, topping estimates, and also announced a quarterly dividend of $0.10 per share payable on July 10.

BloombergSen Inc. lowered its holdings in shares of The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR - Free Report) by 7.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 558,600 shares of the insurance provider's stock after selling 43,210 shares during the period. Progressive comprises 9.3% of BloombergSen Inc.'s portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest holding. BloombergSen Inc. owned approximately 0.10% of Progressive worth $127,216,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PGR. Brighton Jones LLC grew its holdings in shares of Progressive by 15.6% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 3,392 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $813,000 after buying an additional 457 shares in the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Progressive during the fourth quarter worth approximately $269,000. Bison Wealth LLC grew its stake in Progressive by 3.2% during the fourth quarter. Bison Wealth LLC now owns 2,568 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $615,000 after buying an additional 80 shares during the period. HUB Investment Partners LLC grew its stake in Progressive by 7.8% during the second quarter. HUB Investment Partners LLC now owns 2,282 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $609,000 after buying an additional 166 shares during the period. Finally, Diversify Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in Progressive by 12.0% during the second quarter. Diversify Wealth Management LLC now owns 15,146 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $3,681,000 after buying an additional 1,622 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.34% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Progressive

In other Progressive news, insider Karen Bailo sold 3,517 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $212.00, for a total value of $745,604.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 32,348 shares in the company, valued at $6,857,776. The trade was a 9.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 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 sale, 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 ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 6,933 shares of company stock valued at $1,441,564 over the last three months. 0.32% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have commented on PGR. Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of Progressive from $300.60 to $261.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 3rd. Mizuho cut their price objective on shares of Progressive from $235.00 to $223.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 20th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price objective 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. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Progressive from $218.00 to $222.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Bank of America reduced their price objective on shares of Progressive from $325.00 to $320.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $238.11.

Progressive Price Performance

NYSE PGR opened at $199.28 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 0.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The stock has a market capitalization of $116.45 billion, a PE ratio of 10.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 7.28 and a beta of 0.31. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $200.46 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $210.22. The Progressive Corporation has a 12-month low of $191.75 and a 12-month high of $289.96.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 15th. The insurance provider reported $4.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $4.67 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $22.19 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $23.51 billion. Progressive had a net margin of 12.92% and a return on equity of 33.47%. The company's revenue was up 6.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $4.37 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that The Progressive Corporation will post 16.37 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

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

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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