Port Capital LLC Acquires New Position in The Progressive Corporation $PGR

Port Capital LLC bought a new position in The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 237,808 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $51,949,000. Progressive comprises approximately 2.1% of Port Capital LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 16th largest holding.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Progressive during the second quarter valued at approximately $10,496,271,000. Norges Bank bought a new position in Progressive in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,836,094,000. GQG Partners LLC bought a new position in Progressive in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $1,538,570,000. Deutsche Bank AG purchased a new stake in Progressive during the 2nd quarter valued at $1,098,838,000. Finally, Jupiter Topco LLC bought a new stake in shares of Progressive in the 2nd quarter worth $935,172,000. Institutional investors own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Roth Capital restated a “buy” rating and issued a $245.00 price target on shares of Progressive in a research note on Thursday, August 20th. William Blair reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Progressive in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $230.00 target price on shares of Progressive in a research report on Wednesday, August 19th. Bank of America lowered their target price on shares of Progressive from $313.00 to $308.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Progressive in a report on Monday, August 3rd. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Progressive presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $236.05.

Progressive Stock Performance

Shares of PGR opened at $222.36 on Thursday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $216.64 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $207.04. 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 Progressive Corporation has a 52 week low of $189.20 and a 52 week high of $249.83. The stock has a market cap of $129.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.15, a PEG ratio of 2.96 and a beta of 0.27.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 15th. The insurance provider reported $5.67 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.64 by $1.03. The firm had revenue of $23.61 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $19.49 billion. Progressive had a return on equity of 32.92% and a net margin of 12.84%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $5.40 EPS. On average, analysts expect that The Progressive Corporation will post 17.74 EPS for the current year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 9th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 1st. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.2%. Progressive’s payout ratio is currently 2.01%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related 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 transaction, 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 filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Jeffrey D. Kelly sold 7,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $216.33, for a total transaction of $1,514,310.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 22,546 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,877,376.18. This represents a 23.69% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 83,449 shares of company stock valued at $17,685,203. 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.