Raiffeisen Bank International AG Lowers Position in The Progressive Corporation $PGR

Raiffeisen Bank International AG decreased its holdings in shares of The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) by 5.0% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 181,704 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 9,510 shares during the period. Raiffeisen Bank International AG’s holdings in Progressive were worth $39,949,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Meeder Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Progressive in the 2nd quarter valued at about $26,000. Bard Associates Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Progressive during the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. IMG Wealth Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Progressive in the second quarter worth approximately $26,000. Bogart Wealth LLC raised its stake in Progressive by 235.1% in the first quarter. Bogart Wealth LLC now owns 124 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 87 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kilter Group LLC purchased a new stake in Progressive in the second quarter valued at approximately $27,000. 85.34% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Progressive from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Friday, August 28th. Evercore set a $240.00 price objective on shares of Progressive in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Progressive from $198.00 to $201.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 20th. HSBC increased their target price on Progressive from $214.00 to $221.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, July 6th. Finally, Bank of America dropped their price target on Progressive from $313.00 to $308.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $236.26.

Insider Activity at Progressive

In other Progressive news, CFO Andrew J. Quigg sold 3,499 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $220.00, for a total value of $769,780.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 42,595 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,370,900. The trade was a 7.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Susan Griffith sold 37,338 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $219.50, for a total transaction of $8,195,691.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 485,438 shares in the company, valued at $106,553,641. This represents a 7.14% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 113,714 shares of company stock worth $24,466,294 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.32% of the company’s stock.

Progressive Price Performance

PGR stock opened at $223.90 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $130.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.23, a P/E/G ratio of 2.95 and a beta of 0.27. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $217.67 and its 200 day moving average is $207.71. 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 results on Wednesday, July 15th. The insurance provider reported $5.67 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.64 by $1.03. Progressive had a net margin of 12.84% and a return on equity of 32.92%. The business had revenue of $23.61 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $19.49 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $5.40 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.0% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that The Progressive Corporation will post 17.74 earnings per share for the current year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 9th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 1st will be paid a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 1st. Progressive’s payout ratio is 2.01%.

Progressive Profile

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.