Horizon Investment Services LLC Takes Position in The Progressive Corporation $PGR

Horizon Investment Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 3,066 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $670,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Global Retirement Partners LLC bought a new position in Progressive in the 2nd quarter valued at $1,463,000. 1ST Source Bank purchased a new position in shares of Progressive during the 2nd quarter valued at $306,000. Fielder Capital Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Progressive in the second quarter worth $254,000. Wilkinson Global Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Progressive in the second quarter worth $25,473,000. Finally, SCS Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Progressive in the second quarter worth $719,000. 85.34% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on Progressive from $205.00 to $198.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Progressive from $250.00 to $241.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, August 4th. Evercore set a $240.00 price objective on Progressive in a report on Friday, July 10th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Progressive in a research report on Monday, August 3rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised shares of Progressive from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and raised their target price for the company from $190.00 to $210.00 in a research note on Friday, July 24th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $235.00.

Progressive Trading Down 0.1%

Shares of PGR stock opened at $209.48 on Monday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $214.36 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $206.46. The Progressive Corporation has a 12-month low of $189.20 and a 12-month high of $254.93. The company has a quick ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 0.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. The firm has a market cap of $121.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.27.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 15th. The insurance provider reported $5.67 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.64 by $1.03. The firm had revenue of $23.61 billion for 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%.The company’s revenue was up 5.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $5.40 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that The Progressive Corporation will post 17.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 9th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 1st will be issued a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 1st. Progressive’s payout ratio is presently 2.01%.

Insider Transactions at Progressive

In other news, CEO Susan Patricia Griffith sold 37,338 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $212.71, for a total value of $7,942,165.98. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 522,776 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $111,199,682.96. This represents a 6.67% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Karen Bailo sold 8,452 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, July 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $212.71, for a total transaction of $1,797,824.92. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 32,348 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,880,743.08. This represents a 20.72% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last quarter, insiders sold 74,885 shares of company stock worth $15,880,459. Corporate insiders own 0.32% of the company’s stock.

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.