Tocqueville Asset Management L.P. Buys Shares of 140,289 The Progressive Corporation $PGR

Tocqueville Asset Management L.P. purchased a new position in The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm purchased 140,289 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $30,646,000.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Klingman & Associates LLC increased its position in Progressive by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Klingman & Associates LLC now owns 2,927 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $667,000 after acquiring an additional 48 shares during the period. Pines Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Progressive by 3.9% during the 4th 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 last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Investment Management Company LLC boosted its holdings in Progressive by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Northwestern Mutual Investment Management Company LLC now owns 18,736 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $4,267,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares during the period. Phillips Wealth Planners LLC boosted its holdings in Progressive by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Phillips Wealth Planners LLC now owns 1,916 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $436,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares during the period. Finally, Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. grew its position in Progressive by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. now owns 4,307 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $981,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares during the last quarter. 85.34% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Progressive news, insider Karen Bailo sold 8,452 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $212.71, for a total value of $1,797,824.92. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 32,348 shares in the company, valued at $6,880,743.08. This represents a 20.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Susan Patricia Griffith sold 37,338 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, July 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $212.71, for a total value of $7,942,165.98. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 522,776 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $111,199,682.96. This represents a 6.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 82,224 shares of company stock worth $17,416,438 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.32% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PGR has been the topic of several research reports. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Progressive in a research report on Monday, August 3rd. Morgan Stanley raised Progressive from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $190.00 to $210.00 in a research report on Friday, July 24th. UBS Group boosted their price target on Progressive from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 30th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on Progressive from $205.00 to $198.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 16th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on Progressive from $231.00 to $226.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $234.11.

Progressive Price Performance

NYSE:PGR opened at $217.28 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a quick ratio of 0.29 and a current ratio of 0.29. The company has a 50-day moving average of $214.84 and a 200-day moving average of $206.46. The Progressive Corporation has a 52 week low of $189.20 and a 52 week high of $254.93. The company has a market capitalization of $126.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.90, a PEG ratio of 2.80 and a beta of 0.27.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 15th. The insurance provider reported $5.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.64 by $1.03. The firm had revenue of $23.61 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $19.49 billion. Progressive had a net margin of 12.84% and a return on equity of 32.92%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $5.40 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that The Progressive Corporation will post 17.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 9th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 1st will be given a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 1st. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 2.01%.

About Progressive

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.