Berkley W R Corp Acquires New Shares in The Progressive Corporation $PGR

Berkley W R Corp bought a new stake in shares of The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm bought 207,589 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $45,348,000. Progressive accounts for about 2.2% of Berkley W R Corp’s portfolio, making the stock its 6th biggest position.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Bluefin Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Progressive in the second quarter worth $256,000. Magnolia Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Progressive during the second quarter valued at $329,000. Port Capital LLC bought a new stake in Progressive in the 2nd quarter worth about $51,949,000. Wallace Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in Progressive in the 2nd quarter worth about $269,000. Finally, Freestone Grove Partners LP purchased a new position in Progressive in the 2nd quarter worth about $37,539,000. Institutional investors own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Progressive Trading Up 0.1%

Shares of NYSE:PGR opened at $222.36 on Thursday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $216.64 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $207.04. The stock has a market capitalization of $129.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.15, a PEG ratio of 2.96 and a beta of 0.27. The Progressive Corporation has a 52-week low of $189.20 and a 52-week high of $249.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a quick ratio of 0.29 and a current ratio of 0.29.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 15th. The insurance provider reported $5.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.64 by $1.03. The company had revenue of $23.61 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $19.49 billion. Progressive had a net margin of 12.84% and a return on equity of 32.92%. The firm’s revenue was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $5.40 earnings per share. Analysts expect that The Progressive Corporation will post 17.74 EPS for the current year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 9th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 1st will be paid a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 1st. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 2.01%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have issued reports on PGR shares. Evercore set a $240.00 target price on shares of Progressive in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Cantor Fitzgerald reduced their price target on shares of Progressive from $220.00 to $200.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 17th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Progressive in a report on Monday, August 3rd. Mizuho set a $236.00 price objective on shares of Progressive in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of Progressive from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $226.00 to $250.00 in a report on Thursday, August 20th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Progressive presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $236.05.

Insider Buying and Selling at Progressive

In other Progressive news, insider John Jo Murphy sold 8,124 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $212.70, for a total transaction of $1,727,974.80. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 41,291 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,782,595.70. The trade was a 16.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Lori A. Niederst sold 7,339 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $209.29, for a total value of $1,535,979.31. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 42,567 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,908,847.43. The trade was a 14.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 83,449 shares of company stock worth $17,685,203. Insiders own 0.32% of the company’s stock.

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.