Simon Quick Advisors LLC Grows Position in The Progressive Corporation $PGR

Simon Quick Advisors LLC raised its holdings in The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) by 19.7% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,788 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,116 shares during the period. Simon Quick Advisors LLC’s holdings in Progressive were worth $1,811,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of PGR. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Progressive by 1.2% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 54,022,956 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $15,289,037,000 after buying an additional 622,590 shares in the last quarter. GQG Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Progressive by 61.4% during 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 in the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. raised its holdings in shares of Progressive by 15.2% during the 1st quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 8,263,157 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,338,556,000 after buying an additional 1,091,828 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC raised its stake in shares of Progressive by 6.6% during the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 6,380,134 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,805,642,000 after acquiring an additional 396,567 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in shares of Progressive during the first quarter worth approximately $1,473,180,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have commented on PGR. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Progressive from $350.00 to $351.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price target on shares of Progressive from $270.00 to $262.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 16th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price target on shares of Progressive from $252.00 to $247.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 16th. Evercore ISI decreased their price target on shares of Progressive from $275.00 to $273.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 1st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price target on shares of Progressive from $309.00 to $287.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 11th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $268.90.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider John Jo Murphy sold 2,218 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction on Friday, September 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $242.10, for a total value of $536,977.80. Following the sale, the insider owned 43,506 shares in the company, valued at $10,532,802.60. The trade was a 4.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Steven Broz sold 1,345 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction on Friday, September 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $242.10, for a total transaction of $325,624.50. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 30,388 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,356,934.80. This trade represents a 4.24% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 58,500 shares of company stock valued at $14,430,089 over the last quarter. 0.34% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Progressive Price Performance

Shares of Progressive stock opened at $206.71 on Friday. 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’s 50 day simple moving average is $237.97 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $254.67. The stock has a market capitalization of $121.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 0.32. The Progressive Corporation has a one year low of $206.41 and a one year high of $292.99.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 15th. The insurance provider reported $4.45 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 analysts’ expectations of $21.64 billion. Progressive had a return on equity of 33.88% and a net margin of 12.57%.During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.58 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that The Progressive Corporation will post 14.68 EPS for the current year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

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

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.