Tidal Investments LLC Grows Holdings in The Progressive Corporation $PGR

Tidal Investments LLC lifted its stake in The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) by 15.9% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 83,911 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 11,525 shares during the quarter. Tidal Investments LLC’s holdings in Progressive were worth $18,330,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. California State Teachers Retirement System raised its position in Progressive by 23,059.4% in the second quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 199,767,282 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $43,639,163,000 after purchasing an additional 198,904,705 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in Progressive during the second quarter worth $10,496,271,000. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of Progressive by 0.3% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 25,808,762 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $6,373,474,000 after buying an additional 78,374 shares during the period. Capital International Investors boosted its position in shares of Progressive by 8.9% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 14,921,724 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $3,398,123,000 after buying an additional 1,217,527 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE acquired a new stake in shares of Progressive in the second quarter valued at $2,682,342,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PGR has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley upgraded Progressive from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $190.00 to $210.00 in a report on Friday, July 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Progressive from $250.00 to $241.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, August 4th. Weiss Ratings raised Progressive from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Friday, August 28th. HSBC boosted their price target on shares of Progressive from $214.00 to $221.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, July 6th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $230.00 price objective on shares of Progressive in a research note on Wednesday, August 19th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $236.26.

Insider Activity

In other Progressive news, insider Karen Bailo sold 8,452 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $212.71, for a total transaction of $1,797,824.92. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 32,348 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,880,743.08. The trade was a 20.72% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Jeffrey D. Kelly sold 7,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $216.33, for a total value of $1,514,310.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 22,546 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,877,376.18. This represents a 23.69% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 113,714 shares of company stock valued at $24,466,294. Insiders own 0.32% of the company’s stock.

Progressive Stock Up 0.2%

Shares of NYSE:PGR opened at $215.90 on Friday. The Progressive Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $189.20 and a fifty-two week high of $249.71. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $216.96 and its 200 day moving average price is $208.14. The company has a quick ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 0.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. The stock has a market cap of $125.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 0.27.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 15th. The insurance provider reported $5.67 EPS 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 company had revenue of $23.61 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $19.49 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $5.40 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 5.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that The Progressive Corporation will post 17.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

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

About Progressive

Progressive Corporation, founded in 1937 and headquartered in Mayfield Village, Ohio, is an insurance company that primarily serves customers in the United States. The company is best known for its personal and commercial auto insurance businesses and distributes products through independent agents, direct channels and digital platforms.

Progressive offers a broad range of insurance products, including coverage for automobiles, motorcycles, boats, recreational vehicles, homes and renters.