The Progressive Corporation $PGR Shares Purchased by Quent Capital LLC

Quent Capital LLC boosted its stake in The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) by 36.4% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 776 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 207 shares during the period. Quent Capital LLC’s holdings in Progressive were worth $207,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PGR. Baron Silver Stevens Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Progressive in the 2nd quarter valued at about $306,000. State of Alaska Department of Revenue boosted its position in Progressive by 2.7% in the 1st quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 68,644 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $19,426,000 after buying an additional 1,800 shares during the last quarter. Trust Co. of Oklahoma purchased a new position in Progressive in the 2nd quarter valued at about $439,000. Belmont Capital LLC purchased a new position in Progressive in the 1st quarter valued at about $580,000. Finally, Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI boosted its position in Progressive by 87.9% in the 1st quarter. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI now owns 414,183 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $117,218,000 after buying an additional 193,800 shares during the last quarter. 85.34% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider John Jo Murphy sold 2,218 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $242.10, for a total transaction of $536,977.80. Following the sale, the insider owned 43,506 shares in the company, valued at $10,532,802.60. This represents a 4.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Lori A. Niederst sold 8,063 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.18, for a total transaction of $2,017,201.34. Following the sale, the insider owned 39,040 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,767,027.20. This trade represents a 17.12% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 130,045 shares of company stock valued at $31,997,390 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company reissued an “equal weight” rating and issued a $265.00 price objective (down from $327.00) on shares of Progressive in a research report on Thursday, September 18th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Progressive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, September 21st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on shares of Progressive from $268.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report 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 on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 21st. Finally, Evercore ISI reduced their price target on shares of Progressive from $275.00 to $273.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $279.63.

Progressive Stock Performance

Shares of PGR stock opened at $246.10 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $144.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.86, a PEG ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 0.32. The Progressive Corporation has a one year low of $228.54 and a one year high of $292.99. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $245.14 and its 200-day simple moving average is $260.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 0.31 and a current ratio of 0.31.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 16th. The insurance provider reported $4.88 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.43 by $0.45. The firm 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 quarterly revenue was up 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.48 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that The Progressive Corporation will post 14.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

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 paid a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 2nd. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.2%. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio is 2.25%.

Progressive Company 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.