Wellington Management Group LLP Decreases Position in The Progressive Corporation $PGR

Key Points

• Wellington Management Group LLP has reduced its stake in The Progressive Corporation by 44.0%, now holding approximately 3.58 million shares worth over $1 billion.
• Progressive's recent quarterly earnings beat analysts' consensus estimates with earnings per share of $4.88, although revenue slightly missed expectations at $20.08 billion.
• The firm declared a $0.10 quarterly dividend, translating to an annual yield of 0.2%, with payments scheduled for October 10th.

Wellington Management Group LLP lessened its holdings in The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR - Free Report) by 44.0% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,577,880 shares of the insurance provider's stock after selling 2,814,487 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP owned approximately 0.61% of Progressive worth $1,012,576,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PGR. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in Progressive in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $1,473,180,000. GQG Partners LLC boosted its position in Progressive by 61.4% in the 1st quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 8,346,133 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $2,362,039,000 after buying an additional 3,174,632 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in Progressive by 39,285.0% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,046,037 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $862,059,000 after buying an additional 3,038,303 shares during the period. C WorldWide Group Holding A S boosted its position in Progressive by 12,110.3% in the 1st quarter. C WorldWide Group Holding A S now owns 1,248,628 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $353,374,000 after buying an additional 1,238,402 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its position in Progressive by 18.1% in the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 5,983,567 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $1,433,722,000 after buying an additional 915,643 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.34% of the company's stock.

Progressive Stock Down 0.0%

Shares of NYSE:PGR opened at $247.05 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $144.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.92, a PEG ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 0.33. The Progressive Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $228.54 and a fifty-two week high of $292.99. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $252.66 and its 200-day simple moving average is $266.51. The company has a quick ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 0.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21.

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

Progressive Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 2nd will be paid a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.2%. Progressive's dividend payout ratio is currently 2.25%.

Insider Activity at Progressive

In other Progressive news, CEO Susan Patricia Griffith sold 30,660 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, July 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $242.12, for a total transaction of $7,423,399.20. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 506,945 shares in the company, valued at $122,741,523.40. This represents a 5.70% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider John Jo Murphy sold 2,218 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, July 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.24, for a total transaction of $552,814.32. Following the transaction, the insider owned 47,942 shares in the company, valued at $11,949,064.08. This trade represents a 4.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 112,313 shares of company stock valued at $28,349,549 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.34% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on PGR shares. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of Progressive from $275.00 to $265.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 11th. Evercore ISI lowered shares of Progressive from an "outperform" rating to an "in-line" rating and set a $275.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. Bank of America cut their price target on shares of Progressive from $337.00 to $336.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. Barclays cut their price target on shares of Progressive from $297.00 to $287.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, July 7th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Progressive from $328.00 to $333.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, June 20th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $284.88.

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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