Basswood Capital Management L.L.C. Takes Position in The Progressive Corporation $PGR

Basswood Capital Management L.L.C. purchased a new position in shares of The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 66,458 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $14,518,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Meeder Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in Progressive during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $26,000. Bard Associates Inc. acquired a new position in Progressive in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $27,000. IMG Wealth Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Progressive during the second quarter valued at $26,000. Bogart Wealth LLC raised its stake in shares of Progressive by 235.1% during the first quarter. Bogart Wealth LLC now owns 124 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 87 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kilter Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Progressive during the second quarter worth $27,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PGR has been the topic of several analyst reports. Roth Capital reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $245.00 price objective on shares of Progressive in a research note on Thursday, August 20th. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Progressive in a research report on Wednesday, August 19th. Bank of America cut their target price on Progressive from $313.00 to $308.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded Progressive from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price target for the company from $226.00 to $250.00 in a research report on Thursday, August 20th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $228.00 price target 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 given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Progressive currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $236.05.

Progressive Trading Up 0.1%

PGR opened at $222.36 on Thursday. The Progressive Corporation has a twelve month low of $189.20 and a twelve month high of $249.83. 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 company has a fifty day moving average of $216.64 and a 200-day moving average of $207.04. The stock has a market cap of $129.27 billion, a PE ratio of 11.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.96 and a beta of 0.27.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 15th. The insurance provider reported $5.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.64 by $1.03. The business had revenue of $23.61 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $19.49 billion. Progressive had a net margin of 12.84% and a return on equity of 32.92%. Progressive’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $5.40 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that The Progressive Corporation will post 17.74 EPS for the current year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider John Jo Murphy sold 8,124 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 $8,782,595.70. This trade represents a 16.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Karen Bailo sold 8,452 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $212.71, for a total value of $1,797,824.92. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 32,348 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,880,743.08. The trade was a 20.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 83,449 shares of company stock worth $17,685,203 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.32% of the company’s stock.

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.