Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC Boosts Stake in The Progressive Corporation $PGR

Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC raised its position in The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) by 11.5% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 91,041 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 9,387 shares during the period. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC’s holdings in Progressive were worth $24,299,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Highline Wealth Partners LLC raised its position in Progressive by 114.0% in the 1st quarter. Highline Wealth Partners LLC now owns 92 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 49 shares during the period. TruNorth Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Progressive by 210.0% during the first quarter. TruNorth Capital Management LLC now owns 93 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 63 shares during the period. HWG Holdings LP purchased a new position in shares of Progressive during the first quarter worth approximately $28,000. Garde Capital Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Progressive during the first quarter worth approximately $33,000. Finally, Ransom Advisory Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Progressive during the first quarter worth approximately $35,000. 85.34% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PGR has been the topic of a number of research reports. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their target price on shares of Progressive from $309.00 to $287.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 11th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of Progressive from $267.00 to $265.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, September 22nd. Barclays set a $271.00 target price on shares of Progressive in a research report on Wednesday. Cantor Fitzgerald raised shares of Progressive to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 13th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on shares of Progressive from $268.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 18th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $279.63.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Progressive news, insider Lori A. Niederst sold 8,063 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.18, for a total value of $2,017,201.34. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 39,040 shares in the company, valued at $9,767,027.20. This trade represents a 17.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Susan Patricia Griffith sold 30,659 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $246.06, for a total transaction of $7,543,953.54. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 476,286 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $117,194,933.16. This trade represents a 6.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 130,045 shares of company stock valued at $31,997,390 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Progressive Stock Performance

Shares of PGR stock opened at $240.18 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $140.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.53, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 0.32. The company’s 50 day moving average is $245.20 and its 200 day moving average is $259.65. The company has a quick ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 0.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. The Progressive Corporation has a 52-week low of $228.54 and a 52-week high of $292.99.

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

Progressive Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 2nd were paid a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 2nd. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 2.25%.

Progressive 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.