45,135 Shares in The Progressive Corporation $PGR Bought by Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co.

Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. acquired a new position in The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 45,135 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $9,860,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of PGR. Allstate Corp boosted its position in shares of Progressive by 106.1% in the 4th quarter. Allstate Corp now owns 44,513 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $10,136,000 after purchasing an additional 22,915 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in Progressive during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,836,094,000. Investment House LLC purchased a new position in Progressive during the fourth quarter valued at $8,447,000. Van Cleef Asset Management Inc raised its stake in Progressive by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Van Cleef Asset Management Inc now owns 761,587 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $173,429,000 after buying an additional 9,017 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Callan Family Office LLC bought a new stake in Progressive in the second quarter worth $3,025,000. Institutional investors own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Progressive Stock Up 0.1%

Progressive stock opened at $219.45 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $127.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.01, a PEG ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 0.27. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $215.53 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $206.66. The Progressive Corporation has a 12 month low of $189.20 and a 12 month high of $252.82. The company has a current ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 15th. The insurance provider reported $5.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.64 by $1.03. Progressive had a return on equity of 32.92% and a net margin of 12.84%.The firm had revenue of $23.61 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $19.49 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $5.40 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 5.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that The Progressive Corporation will post 17.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 9th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.10 per share. 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 dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 2.01%.

Insider Transactions at Progressive

In other Progressive news, insider Lori A. Niederst sold 7,339 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the sale, the insider owned 42,567 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,908,847.43. The trade was a 14.71% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Karen Bailo sold 8,452 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $212.71, for a total transaction of $1,797,824.92. Following the sale, the insider owned 32,348 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,880,743.08. This represents a 20.72% 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 three months, insiders sold 82,224 shares of company stock valued at $17,416,438. Company insiders own 0.32% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently commented on PGR. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on Progressive from $250.00 to $241.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, August 4th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Progressive from $198.00 to $201.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Progressive from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 30th. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Progressive from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $190.00 to $210.00 in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Progressive in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $236.05.

Progressive Company 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.