DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale Increases Stock Holdings in The Progressive Corporation $PGR

DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale lifted its stake in shares of The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) by 8.3% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 762,179 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 58,360 shares during the quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale’s holdings in Progressive were worth $200,954,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. TruNorth Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Progressive by 210.0% during the 1st quarter. TruNorth Capital Management LLC now owns 93 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 63 shares during the period. HWG Holdings LP acquired a new position in shares of Progressive in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Garde Capital Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Progressive in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Ransom Advisory Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Progressive in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Finally, Activest Wealth Management raised its position in shares of Progressive by 6,350.0% in the 1st quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 129 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 127 shares in the last quarter. 85.34% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Progressive Trading Down 2.7%

NYSE:PGR opened at $219.51 on Tuesday. The Progressive Corporation has a 12-month low of $217.20 and a 12-month high of $292.99. The firm has a market capitalization of $128.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.04, a P/E/G ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 0.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a current ratio of 0.32 and a quick ratio of 0.31. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $243.23 and a 200 day simple moving average of $257.43.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 15th. The insurance provider reported $4.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.04 by ($0.59). Progressive had a net margin of 12.57% and a return on equity of 33.88%. The company had revenue of $21.38 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $21.64 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $3.58 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that The Progressive Corporation will post 14.68 EPS for the current year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 2nd were given a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 2nd. Progressive’s payout ratio is 2.19%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have issued reports on PGR. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Progressive in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Zacks Research lowered Progressive from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, October 10th. Wall Street Zen lowered Progressive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, September 21st. Raymond James Financial cut their target price on Progressive from $305.00 to $265.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Finally, UBS Group cut their target price on Progressive from $268.00 to $261.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Progressive has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $270.40.

Insider Activity at Progressive

In other Progressive news, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 16,664 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.24, for a total transaction of $4,153,335.36. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Susan Patricia Griffith sold 30,660 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $242.12, for a total value of $7,423,399.20. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 506,945 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $122,741,523.40. This trade represents a 5.70% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 128,778 shares of company stock worth $31,683,756 in the last ninety days. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.