Corundum Group Inc. Lowers Stake in The Progressive Corporation $PGR

Corundum Group Inc. reduced its holdings in shares of The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) by 15.9% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,178 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 222 shares during the period. Corundum Group Inc.’s holdings in Progressive were worth $314,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in Progressive during the 1st quarter valued at about $1,473,180,000. GQG Partners LLC increased its stake in Progressive by 61.4% during 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 purchasing an additional 3,174,632 shares in the last quarter. C WorldWide Group Holding A S increased its stake in Progressive by 12,110.3% during 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 purchasing an additional 1,238,402 shares in the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. increased its stake in Progressive by 15.2% during 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 purchasing an additional 1,091,828 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Axiom Investors LLC DE bought a new stake in Progressive during the 1st quarter valued at about $194,557,000. 85.34% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Progressive news, insider Karen Bailo sold 8,922 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.24, for a total transaction of $2,223,719.28. Following the transaction, the insider owned 32,346 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,061,917.04. The trade was a 21.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 16,664 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.24, for a total transaction of $4,153,335.36. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 228,024 shares in the company, valued at $56,832,701.76. This represents a 6.81% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 130,045 shares of company stock valued at $31,997,390 in the last 90 days. 0.34% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Progressive Stock Performance

PGR opened at $246.10 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 0.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. The company has a market cap of $144.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.86, a PEG ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.32. The company’s 50 day moving average is $245.14 and its 200 day moving average is $260.84. The Progressive Corporation has a 12-month low of $228.54 and a 12-month high of $292.99.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 16th. The insurance provider reported $4.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.43 by $0.45. The company had revenue of $20.08 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $20.39 billion. Progressive had a net margin of 12.66% and a return on equity of 35.37%. The firm’s revenue was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.48 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that The Progressive Corporation will post 14.68 EPS for the current year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 2nd will be issued a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is 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 presently 2.25%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have weighed in on PGR shares. Wolfe Research started coverage on shares of Progressive in a research note on Monday, September 15th. They set a “peer perform” rating for the company. Wells Fargo & Company restated an “equal weight” rating and set a $265.00 price objective (down from $327.00) on shares of Progressive in a research note on Thursday, September 18th. UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of Progressive from $280.00 to $268.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, July 21st. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Progressive in a research note on Saturday, September 27th. Finally, Evercore ISI reduced their price target on shares of Progressive from $275.00 to $273.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $279.63.

About Progressive

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.