Motley Fool Asset Management LLC Boosts Stock Holdings in The Progressive Corporation $PGR

Motley Fool Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) by 34.8% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 54,531 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 14,081 shares during the period. Motley Fool Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Progressive were worth $12,418,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Klingman & Associates LLC grew its holdings in shares of Progressive by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Klingman & Associates LLC now owns 2,927 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $667,000 after buying an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. Wealthstream Advisors Inc. lifted its position in Progressive by 4.6% during the third quarter. Wealthstream Advisors Inc. now owns 1,111 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $274,000 after purchasing an additional 49 shares during the period. Revisor Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Progressive by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Revisor Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,902 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $395,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the period. Cullen Investment Group LTD. lifted its position in Progressive by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Cullen Investment Group LTD. now owns 7,463 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,606,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares during the period. Finally, Pines Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Progressive by 3.9% during the fourth quarter. Pines Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,399 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $319,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Progressive

In other Progressive news, CAO Carl G. Joyce sold 270 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $206.50, for a total transaction of $55,755.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 558 shares in the company, valued at $115,227. This trade represents a 32.61% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Steven Broz sold 1,157 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $200.00, for a total value of $231,400.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 28,668 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,733,600. This represents a 3.88% 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 7,343 shares of company stock worth $1,470,355 in the last quarter. 0.32% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Progressive Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE PGR opened at $199.80 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 0.27 and a current ratio of 0.27. The company has a market cap of $116.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.16, a P/E/G ratio of 5.80 and a beta of 0.28. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $198.87 and its two-hundred day moving average is $208.42. The Progressive Corporation has a 52-week low of $189.20 and a 52-week high of $271.00.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 15th. The insurance provider reported $4.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.67 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $22.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $23.51 billion. Progressive had a return on equity of 33.47% and a net margin of 12.92%.The business’s revenue was up 6.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $4.37 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that The Progressive Corporation will post 16.35 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 2nd will be issued a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 2nd. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 2.03%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PGR has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets restated a “market perform” rating and set a $220.00 price objective on shares of Progressive in a research report on Wednesday, May 20th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Progressive from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 24th. Argus upgraded shares of Progressive to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and set a $259.00 price objective on shares of Progressive in a research report on Monday, March 2nd. Finally, Evercore restated a “negative” rating on shares of Progressive in a research report on Wednesday, March 18th. Six research 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 MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $238.11.

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.