Canada Pension Plan Investment Board Acquires New Shares in The Progressive Corporation $PGR

Canada Pension Plan Investment Board bought a new stake in The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm bought 788,481 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $172,244,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Meeder Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Progressive in the second quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Bard Associates Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Progressive during the fourth quarter worth $27,000. IMG Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Progressive during the second quarter worth $26,000. Bogart Wealth LLC lifted its stake in shares of Progressive by 235.1% in the 1st 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 bought a new position in shares of Progressive in the 2nd quarter valued at $27,000. Institutional investors own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Progressive

In other Progressive news, Director Jeffrey D. Kelly sold 7,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $216.33, for a total transaction of $1,514,310.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 22,546 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,877,376.18. This represents a 23.69% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Susan Patricia Griffith sold 37,338 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $212.71, for a total transaction of $7,942,165.98. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 522,776 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $111,199,682.96. The trade was a 6.67% decrease in their position. 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 valued at $17,685,203 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.32% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on PGR. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Progressive from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 30th. Mizuho set a $236.00 target price on Progressive in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised Progressive from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $226.00 to $250.00 in a research note on Thursday, August 20th. Cantor Fitzgerald reduced their price target on Progressive from $220.00 to $200.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 17th. Finally, Evercore set a $240.00 price objective on Progressive in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Progressive currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $236.05.

Progressive Stock Performance

Shares of Progressive stock opened at $222.36 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $129.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.15, a P/E/G ratio of 2.96 and a beta of 0.27. The Progressive Corporation has a twelve month low of $189.20 and a twelve month high of $249.83. The company’s fifty day moving average is $216.64 and its 200 day moving average is $207.04. The company has a quick ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 0.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24.

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

Progressive Dividend Announcement

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 paid 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 is presently 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.