Quantbot Technologies LP Purchases New Position in The Progressive Corporation $PGR

Quantbot Technologies LP bought a new position in shares of The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm bought 6,015 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,314,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in PGR. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Progressive in the second quarter worth $10,496,271,000. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Progressive during the fourth quarter valued at $1,836,094,000. Deutsche Bank AG bought a new stake in Progressive in the 2nd quarter worth about $1,098,838,000. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in Progressive by 181.8% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 6,506,302 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,481,615,000 after buying an additional 4,197,212 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Diamant Asset Management Inc. raised its position in Progressive by 19,724.0% in the 1st quarter. Diamant Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,068,876 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $806,614,000 after buying an additional 4,048,351 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, CIO Jonathan S. Bauer sold 2,242 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction on Monday, July 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $212.71, for a total transaction of $476,895.82. Following the transaction, the executive directly owned 26,250 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,583,637.50. The trade was a 7.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Steven Broz sold 1,225 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $219.40, for a total value of $268,765.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 31,257 shares in the company, valued at $6,857,785.80. This trade represents a 3.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 83,449 shares of company stock worth $17,685,203. Company insiders own 0.32% of the company’s stock.

Progressive Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:PGR opened at $221.77 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $216.29 and its 200-day moving average price is $206.94. The Progressive Corporation has a twelve month low of $189.20 and a twelve month high of $249.83. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $128.93 billion, a PE ratio of 11.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 0.27.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 15th. The insurance provider reported $5.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.64 by $1.03. Progressive had a net margin of 12.84% and a return on equity of 32.92%. The company had revenue of $23.61 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $19.49 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $5.40 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that The Progressive Corporation will post 17.72 EPS for the current year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 9th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 1st will be paid 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 currently 2.01%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have issued reports on PGR shares. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $230.00 target price on shares of Progressive in a research note on Wednesday, August 19th. Bank of America reduced their price target on shares of Progressive from $313.00 to $308.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of Progressive from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $226.00 to $250.00 in a research report on Thursday, August 20th. William Blair restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Progressive in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Progressive from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 30th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $236.05.

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.