BloombergSen Inc. Reduces Stock Holdings in The Progressive Corporation $PGR

BloombergSen Inc. lowered its holdings in shares of The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) by 7.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 558,600 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 43,210 shares during the period. Progressive comprises 9.3% of BloombergSen Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest holding. BloombergSen Inc.’s holdings in Progressive were worth $127,216,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of PGR. Capital International Investors boosted its stake in Progressive by 78.9% during the third quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 13,704,197 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $3,384,082,000 after buying an additional 6,045,732 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its stake in Progressive by 26.1% during the third quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 11,167,940 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,757,905,000 after buying an additional 2,314,864 shares in the last quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC boosted its stake in Progressive by 2,012.0% during the third quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 767,549 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $189,546,000 after buying an additional 731,207 shares in the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp boosted its stake in Progressive by 1,363.8% during the fourth quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 706,898 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $160,975,000 after buying an additional 658,607 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Marshfield Associates boosted its stake in Progressive by 70.8% during the third quarter. Marshfield Associates now owns 1,577,453 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $389,552,000 after buying an additional 653,763 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on PGR shares. BMO Capital Markets restated a “market perform” rating and issued a $220.00 target price on shares of Progressive in a research note on Wednesday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Progressive in a research note on Friday. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of Progressive from $205.00 to $190.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 31st. Bank of America reduced their target price on shares of Progressive from $325.00 to $320.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $225.00 target price on shares of Progressive in a research note on Monday, February 23rd. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $238.11.

Insider Transactions at Progressive

In other Progressive news, insider Karen Bailo sold 3,517 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $212.00, for a total transaction of $745,604.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 32,348 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,857,776. The trade was a 9.81% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Carl G. Joyce sold 270 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $206.50, for a total value of $55,755.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 558 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $115,227. This represents a 32.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 6,933 shares of company stock valued at $1,441,564. 0.32% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Progressive Stock Up 0.2%

Shares of NYSE PGR opened at $199.28 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $200.46 and its 200 day simple moving average is $210.22. The company has a market cap of $116.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 7.28 and a beta of 0.31. The company has a quick ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 0.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The Progressive Corporation has a 12-month low of $191.75 and a 12-month high of $289.96.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 15th. The insurance provider reported $4.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.67 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $22.19 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $23.51 billion. Progressive had a net margin of 12.92% and a return on equity of 33.47%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $4.37 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that The Progressive Corporation will post 16.37 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 2nd will be issued a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 2nd. Progressive’s payout ratio is currently 2.03%.

About Progressive

Progressive Corporation is a large U.S.-based property and casualty insurer that primarily underwrites personal auto insurance along with a broad suite of related products. Its offerings include coverage for private passenger automobiles, commercial auto fleets, motorcycles, boats and recreational vehicles, as well as homeowners, renters, umbrella and other specialty P&C products. Progressive also provides claims handling, risk management and related services to individual and commercial policyholders.

The company distributes its products through a mix of direct channels—online and by phone—and an extensive independent agent network.