Stonehage Fleming Financial Services Holdings Ltd Takes Position in The Progressive Corporation $PGR

Stonehage Fleming Financial Services Holdings Ltd bought a new stake in shares of The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 3,389 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $740,000.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PGR. Bank of Nova Scotia bought a new position in shares of Progressive during the second quarter valued at approximately $76,260,000. Allstate Corp boosted its holdings in Progressive by 106.1% in the fourth quarter. Allstate Corp now owns 44,513 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $10,136,000 after acquiring an additional 22,915 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Progressive in the fourth quarter valued at $1,836,094,000. Investment House LLC purchased a new position in Progressive during the 4th quarter valued at $8,447,000. Finally, Callan Family Office LLC purchased a new position in Progressive during the 2nd quarter valued at $3,025,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Progressive

In related news, insider Lori A. Niederst sold 7,339 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $209.29, for a total value of $1,535,979.31. Following the sale, the insider owned 42,567 shares in the company, valued at $8,908,847.43. This represents a 14.71% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Andrew J. Quigg sold 3,499 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $220.00, for a total value of $769,780.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 42,595 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,370,900. This trade represents a 7.59% 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. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 83,449 shares of company stock worth $17,685,203. Company insiders own 0.32% of the company’s stock.

Progressive Stock Down 2.2%

Shares of Progressive stock opened at $217.51 on Friday. The Progressive Corporation has a 1 year low of $189.20 and a 1 year high of $249.83. The firm has a market cap of $126.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.91, a PEG ratio of 2.96 and a beta of 0.27. The company has a 50-day moving average of $216.90 and a 200 day moving average of $207.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 0.29 and a quick ratio of 0.29.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 15th. The insurance provider reported $5.67 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.64 by $1.03. The business had revenue of $23.61 billion for 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%. Progressive’s quarterly revenue was up 5.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $5.40 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that The Progressive Corporation will post 17.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on PGR. BMO Capital Markets reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Progressive in a research report on Wednesday, August 19th. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Progressive from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $190.00 to $210.00 in a report on Friday, July 24th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Progressive from $198.00 to $201.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 20th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded Progressive from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $226.00 to $250.00 in a report on Thursday, August 20th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Progressive in a research report on Monday, August 3rd. Seven 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $236.26.

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.