Oarsman Capital Inc. Increases Stock Holdings in The Progressive Corporation $PGR

Oarsman Capital Inc. lifted its stake in shares of The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) by 8.8% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,954 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 158 shares during the quarter. Oarsman Capital Inc.’s holdings in Progressive were worth $521,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. TruNorth Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Progressive by 210.0% in the 1st quarter. TruNorth Capital Management LLC now owns 93 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 63 shares in the last quarter. Ransom Advisory Ltd bought a new stake in Progressive during the 1st quarter valued at $35,000. Activest Wealth Management raised its stake in Progressive by 6,350.0% during the 1st quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 129 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 127 shares in the last quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. raised its stake in Progressive by 1,885.7% during the 2nd quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 139 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 132 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Accent Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Progressive during the 1st quarter valued at $39,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Progressive Trading Down 1.9%

Progressive stock opened at $207.84 on Thursday. The Progressive Corporation has a 12 month low of $206.58 and a 12 month high of $292.99. The company has a quick ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 0.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $238.82 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $255.00. The stock has a market cap of $121.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 0.32.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last issued its earnings results 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). The company had revenue of $21.38 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $21.64 billion. Progressive had a return on equity of 33.88% and a net margin of 12.57%.During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.58 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that The Progressive Corporation will post 14.68 EPS for the current year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 2nd were given a $0.10 dividend. 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 dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 2.19%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on PGR. Zacks Research downgraded Progressive from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, October 10th. Evercore ISI dropped their price target on Progressive from $275.00 to $273.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 1st. Morgan Stanley set a $214.00 price target on Progressive and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 20th. Citigroup lowered their target price on Progressive from $312.00 to $301.38 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 16th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Progressive from $301.00 to $303.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 9th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $268.90.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Susan Patricia Griffith sold 30,659 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $246.06, for a total value of $7,543,953.54. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 476,286 shares in the company, valued at $117,194,933.16. This trade represents a 6.05% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Lori A. Niederst sold 8,063 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.18, for a total value of $2,017,201.34. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 39,040 shares in the company, valued at $9,767,027.20. This represents a 17.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 58,500 shares of company stock worth $14,430,089 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

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.