Tocqueville Asset Management L.P. Takes Position in The Progressive Corporation $PGR

Key Points

• Tocqueville Asset Management acquired 140,289 shares of Progressive during the second quarter, valued at approximately $30.6 million. Institutional investors collectively own 85.34% of the insurer’s stock.
• Progressive reported quarterly earnings of $5.67 per share, exceeding estimates of $4.64, while revenue rose 5% year over year to $23.61 billion. Analysts maintain a consensus “Hold” rating with an average price target of $234.11.
• Progressive insiders sold 82,224 shares worth approximately $17.4 million over the past 90 days under pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plans. The company also declared a quarterly dividend of $0.10 per share, equivalent to a 0.2% annualized yield.

Tocqueville Asset Management L.P. purchased a new position in The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR - Free Report) during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 140,289 shares of the insurance provider's stock, valued at approximately $30,646,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. West Family Investments Inc. acquired a new stake in Progressive during the second quarter valued at $330,000. Knuff & Co LLC purchased a new position in Progressive in the second quarter valued at about $397,000. NewEdge Wealth LLC acquired a new position in Progressive in the 2nd quarter worth about $9,427,000. Empirical Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in Progressive in the 2nd quarter worth about $616,000. Finally, Balanced Wealth Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Progressive during the 2nd quarter worth about $510,000. 85.34% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on PGR. William Blair reiterated a "market perform" rating on shares of Progressive in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. Mizuho set a $236.00 price objective on shares of Progressive in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. HSBC raised their price objective 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. Cantor Fitzgerald decreased their target price on shares of Progressive from $220.00 to $200.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Monday. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a "hold (c)" rating on shares of Progressive in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fifteen have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $234.11.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Lori A. Niederst sold 7,339 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $209.29, for a total value of $1,535,979.31. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 42,567 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,908,847.43. The trade was a 14.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 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 stock was sold at an average price of $212.71, for a total transaction of $7,942,165.98. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 522,776 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $111,199,682.96. This represents 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. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 82,224 shares of company stock valued at $17,416,438. 0.32% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Progressive Stock Performance

PGR opened at $217.28 on Thursday. 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 company has a market cap of $126.32 billion, a PE ratio of 10.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.80 and a beta of 0.27. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $214.84 and a 200-day moving average of $206.46. The Progressive Corporation has a 52-week low of $189.20 and a 52-week high of $254.93.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 15th. The insurance provider reported $5.67 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $4.64 by $1.03. Progressive had a return on equity of 32.92% and a net margin of 12.84%.The business had revenue of $23.61 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $19.49 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $5.40 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that The Progressive Corporation will post 17.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 9th. Stockholders 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.2%. Progressive's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 2.01%.

Progressive Company 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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