Ellsworth Advisors LLC Makes New $4.52 Million Investment in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Ellsworth Advisors LLC bought a new position in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 21,742 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $4,516,000.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in PGR. Fiduciary Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Progressive during the 2nd quarter worth $303,000. Swedbank AB lifted its stake in shares of Progressive by 12.7% during the 2nd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 636,757 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $132,261,000 after purchasing an additional 71,762 shares during the last quarter. Financial Strategies Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Progressive by 12.3% during the 2nd quarter. Financial Strategies Group Inc. now owns 30,238 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $6,335,000 after purchasing an additional 3,309 shares during the last quarter. J.Safra Asset Management Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Progressive during the 2nd quarter worth $64,000. Finally, Baader Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted its stake in shares of Progressive by 21.6% during the 2nd quarter. Baader Bank Aktiengesellschaft now owns 31,728 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $6,588,000 after purchasing an additional 5,630 shares during the last quarter. 85.34% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on PGR. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on Progressive from $250.00 to $252.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Citigroup decreased their price objective on Progressive from $232.00 to $225.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Progressive from $262.00 to $281.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Roth Mkm increased their price target on Progressive from $235.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets decreased their price target on Progressive from $239.00 to $237.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $234.41.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider John Jo Murphy sold 9,512 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $237.50, for a total transaction of $2,259,100.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 45,787 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,874,412.50. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Progressive news, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 12,457 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $204.43, for a total value of $2,546,584.51. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 312,958 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $63,978,003.94. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider John Jo Murphy sold 9,512 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $237.50, for a total value of $2,259,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 45,787 shares in the company, valued at $10,874,412.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 110,319 shares of company stock valued at $23,671,517 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Progressive Stock Performance

Progressive stock traded down $0.89 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $235.88. 2,592,456 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,570,807. The firm has a market capitalization of $138.15 billion, a PE ratio of 24.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 0.35. The Progressive Co. has a fifty-two week low of $129.31 and a fifty-two week high of $238.45. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $214.15 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $206.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 0.31 and a current ratio of 0.31.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 16th. The insurance provider reported $2.65 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.04 by $0.61. The firm had revenue of $17.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.54 billion. Progressive had a return on equity of 33.01% and a net margin of 10.17%. Progressive’s revenue for the quarter was up 21.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.57 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that The Progressive Co. will post 12.02 earnings per share for the current year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.17%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 3rd. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 4.09%.

About Progressive

The Progressive Corporation, an insurance holding company, provides personal and commercial auto, personal residential and commercial property, business related general liability, and other specialty property-casualty insurance products and related services in the United States. It operates in three segments: Personal Lines, Commercial Lines, and Property.