Second Line Capital LLC Buys 2,376 Shares of The Progressive Corporation $PGR

Second Line Capital LLC increased its position in The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) by 17.0% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 16,326 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 2,376 shares during the period. Second Line Capital LLC’s holdings in Progressive were worth $3,566,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PGR. Unique Wealth LLC grew its holdings in Progressive by 4.3% during the 2nd quarter. Unique Wealth LLC now owns 1,240 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $271,000 after purchasing an additional 51 shares in the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Investment Management Company LLC increased its stake in Progressive by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Northwestern Mutual Investment Management Company LLC now owns 18,736 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $4,267,000 after buying an additional 52 shares during the period. Phillips Wealth Planners LLC lifted 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 worth $436,000 after buying an additional 52 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. lifted its holdings 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 buying an additional 52 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC boosted its position in Progressive by 1.4% in the 2nd quarter. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC now owns 4,072 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $890,000 after buying an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. 85.34% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Progressive Stock Performance

Shares of Progressive stock opened at $218.41 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $126.98 billion, a PE ratio of 10.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 0.27. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $217.55 and its 200-day simple moving average is $207.89. 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 Progressive Corporation has a 1 year low of $189.20 and a 1 year high of $249.71.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 15th. The insurance provider reported $5.67 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.64 by $1.03. The business had revenue of $23.61 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $19.49 billion. Progressive had a return on equity of 32.92% and a net margin of 12.84%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $5.40 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that The Progressive Corporation will post 17.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced 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. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 1st. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 2.01%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PGR has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. William Blair restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Progressive in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. Evercore set a $240.00 price target on Progressive in a report on Friday, July 10th. UBS Group raised their price objective on Progressive from $225.00 to $234.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 27th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Progressive from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Friday, August 28th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised Progressive from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their target price for the company from $226.00 to $250.00 in a research report on Thursday, August 20th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $236.26.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Jeffrey D. Kelly sold 7,000 shares of the firm’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 transaction, the director directly owned 22,546 shares in the company, valued at $4,877,376.18. This trade represents a 23.69% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Lori A. Niederst sold 7,339 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $209.29, for a total transaction of $1,535,979.31. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 42,567 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,908,847.43. This represents a 14.71% decrease in their position. 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. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 113,714 shares of company stock worth $24,466,294. 0.32% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.