Korea Investment CORP Makes New $55.73 Million Investment in The Progressive Corporation $PGR

Korea Investment CORP bought a new position in The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 255,126 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $55,732,000.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in Progressive in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $10,496,271,000. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Progressive in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,836,094,000. Deutsche Bank AG bought a new stake in Progressive during the 2nd quarter valued at $1,098,838,000. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in Progressive by 181.8% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 6,506,302 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,481,615,000 after acquiring an additional 4,197,212 shares during the period. Finally, Diamant Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Progressive by 19,724.0% during the first quarter. Diamant Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,068,876 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $806,614,000 after acquiring an additional 4,048,351 shares in the last quarter. 85.34% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Progressive

In other Progressive news, CEO Susan Patricia Griffith sold 37,338 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $212.71, for a total value of $7,942,165.98. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 522,776 shares in the company, valued at $111,199,682.96. This represents a 6.67% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider John Jo Murphy sold 8,124 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $212.70, for a total value of $1,727,974.80. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 41,291 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,782,595.70. The trade was a 16.44% 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. Insiders sold 82,224 shares of company stock valued at $17,416,438 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.32% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently commented on PGR. Bank of America cut their price target on Progressive from $313.00 to $308.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 16th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Progressive from $198.00 to $201.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Mizuho set a $236.00 price objective on Progressive in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on Progressive from $250.00 to $241.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, August 4th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised Progressive from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $190.00 to $210.00 in a report on Friday, July 24th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $236.05.

Progressive Stock Down 0.4%

Shares of NYSE:PGR opened at $219.45 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $215.53 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $206.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 0.29 and a quick ratio of 0.29. The Progressive Corporation has a one year low of $189.20 and a one year high of $252.82. The company has a market cap of $127.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.01, a PEG ratio of 2.94 and a beta of 0.27.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 15th. The insurance provider reported $5.67 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.64 by $1.03. The firm had revenue of $23.61 billion during 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%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $5.40 EPS. Analysts anticipate that The Progressive Corporation will post 17.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 9th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 1st will be paid 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 dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 2.01%.

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.