AustralianSuper Pty Ltd Sells 525,071 Shares of The Progressive Corporation $PGR

AustralianSuper Pty Ltd lessened its stake in shares of The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) by 43.2% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 689,971 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 525,071 shares during the period. Progressive accounts for approximately 0.9% of AustralianSuper Pty Ltd’s holdings, making the stock its 22nd biggest position. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd owned 0.12% of Progressive worth $184,126,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in PGR. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in shares of Progressive in the 1st quarter valued at about $1,473,180,000. GQG Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Progressive by 61.4% in the 1st quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 8,346,133 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,362,039,000 after acquiring an additional 3,174,632 shares during the last quarter. C WorldWide Group Holding A S lifted its holdings in shares of Progressive by 12,110.3% in the 1st quarter. C WorldWide Group Holding A S now owns 1,248,628 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $353,374,000 after acquiring an additional 1,238,402 shares during the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. lifted its holdings in shares of Progressive by 15.2% in the 1st quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 8,263,157 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,338,556,000 after acquiring an additional 1,091,828 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Axiom Investors LLC DE bought a new position in shares of Progressive in the 1st quarter valued at about $194,557,000. Institutional investors own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently commented on the stock. Raymond James Financial lowered their price target on shares of Progressive from $305.00 to $265.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 17th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Progressive in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Morgan Stanley set a $214.00 price target on shares of Progressive and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday, October 20th. Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on shares of Progressive from $275.00 to $273.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 1st. Finally, Wolfe Research started coverage on shares of Progressive in a research report on Monday, September 15th. They issued a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Progressive presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $270.40.

Insider Buying and Selling at Progressive

In other news, insider John Jo Murphy sold 2,218 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.78, for a total transaction of $556,230.04. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 45,724 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,466,664.72. This trade represents a 4.63% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Steven Broz sold 1,345 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $242.10, for a total transaction of $325,624.50. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 30,388 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,356,934.80. This trade represents a 4.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 58,500 shares of company stock valued at $14,430,089. 0.33% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Progressive Stock Performance

Progressive stock opened at $218.93 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a current ratio of 0.32 and a quick ratio of 0.31. The Progressive Corporation has a 1-year low of $217.20 and a 1-year high of $292.99. The firm has a market capitalization of $128.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 0.32. The company’s 50-day moving average is $241.10 and its 200 day moving average is $256.29.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 15th. The insurance provider reported $4.45 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.04 by ($0.59). The company had revenue of $21.38 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $21.64 billion. Progressive had a return on equity of 33.88% and a net margin of 12.57%.During the same period last year, the business posted $3.58 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that The Progressive Corporation will post 14.68 EPS for the current year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 2nd were given a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 2nd. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.2%. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 2.19%.

Progressive Company Profile

The Progressive Corporation, an insurance holding company, provides personal and commercial auto, personal residential and commercial property, business related general liability, and other specialty property-casualty insurance products and related services in the United States. It operates in three segments: Personal Lines, Commercial Lines, and Property.