Townsquare Capital LLC Acquires 1,643 Shares of The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR)

Key Points

• Townsquare Capital LLC increased its holdings in The Progressive Corporation by 16.3% during the first quarter, acquiring an additional 1,643 shares, bringing its total holdings to 11,694 shares valued at approximately $3.31 million.
• Progressive has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" among analysts, with a mean target price of $286.88, despite several firms lowering their target prices recently.
• Insiders have sold around 104,250 shares of Progressive stock in the last quarter, indicating a significant decrease in their positions, with notable sales by CFO John P. Sauerland and Andrew J. Quigg.

Townsquare Capital LLC increased its holdings in shares of The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR - Free Report) by 16.3% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 11,694 shares of the insurance provider's stock after acquiring an additional 1,643 shares during the period. Townsquare Capital LLC's holdings in Progressive were worth $3,310,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Founders Financial Alliance LLC bought a new stake in shares of Progressive during the 1st quarter worth approximately $3,496,000. Truepoint Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Progressive during the 1st quarter worth approximately $206,000. NBW Capital LLC bought a new stake in Progressive during the 1st quarter valued at $6,669,000. Savvy Advisors Inc. raised its position in Progressive by 30.1% during the 1st quarter. Savvy Advisors Inc. now owns 5,108 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $1,446,000 after purchasing an additional 1,182 shares in the last quarter. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI raised its position in Progressive by 5.6% during the 1st quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 959,808 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $271,643,000 after purchasing an additional 51,044 shares in the last quarter. 85.34% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PGR has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on Progressive from $290.00 to $280.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, July 14th. UBS Group decreased their target price on Progressive from $280.00 to $268.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, July 21st. Barclays decreased their target price on Progressive from $297.00 to $287.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, July 7th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on Progressive from $288.00 to $281.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, July 18th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Progressive from $328.00 to $333.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, June 20th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $286.88.

Progressive Stock Up 0.5%

Shares of PGR stock opened at $246.49 on Monday. The Progressive Corporation has a 1-year low of $217.91 and a 1-year high of $292.99. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $256.79 and its 200 day moving average price is $266.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 0.31 and a quick ratio of 0.31. The company has a market cap of $144.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 0.33.

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

Progressive Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Progressive

In other Progressive news, insider Andrew J. Quigg sold 3,191 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.24, for a total transaction of $795,324.84. Following the sale, the insider owned 37,977 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,465,387.48. The trade was a 7.75% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 16,664 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.24, for a total value of $4,153,335.36. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 228,024 shares in the company, valued at approximately $56,832,701.76. The trade was a 6.81% 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. 0.33% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.

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