Villere ST Denis J & Co. LLC Increases Stake in The Progressive Corporation $PGR

Villere ST Denis J & Co. LLC increased its position in The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) by 3.6% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 90,840 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,120 shares during the quarter. Progressive comprises 2.3% of Villere ST Denis J & Co. LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 23rd largest holding. Villere ST Denis J & Co. LLC’s holdings in Progressive were worth $24,242,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PGR. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in Progressive in the 1st quarter worth about $1,473,180,000. GQG Partners LLC increased its holdings in Progressive by 61.4% in the 1st quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 8,346,133 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,362,039,000 after acquiring an additional 3,174,632 shares during the last quarter. C WorldWide Group Holding A S increased its holdings in Progressive by 12,110.3% in the 1st quarter. C WorldWide Group Holding A S now owns 1,248,628 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $353,374,000 after acquiring an additional 1,238,402 shares during the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. increased its holdings in Progressive by 15.2% in the 1st quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 8,263,157 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,338,556,000 after acquiring an additional 1,091,828 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Axiom Investors LLC DE purchased a new stake in Progressive in the 1st quarter worth about $194,557,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently weighed in on PGR. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Progressive from $267.00 to $265.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, September 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Progressive from $265.00 to $266.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Progressive in a report on Wednesday. Bank of America lifted their target price on Progressive from $343.00 to $350.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 29th. Finally, UBS Group reduced their target price on Progressive from $268.00 to $261.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Progressive currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $279.63.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Susan Patricia Griffith sold 30,659 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $246.06, for a total value of $7,543,953.54. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 476,286 shares in the company, valued at $117,194,933.16. The trade was a 6.05% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Lori A. Niederst sold 8,063 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.18, for a total value of $2,017,201.34. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 39,040 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,767,027.20. The trade was a 17.12% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 130,045 shares of company stock worth $31,997,390. Company insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Progressive Stock Performance

Shares of PGR opened at $240.18 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $140.80 billion, a PE ratio of 13.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 0.32. The company has a current ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 0.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $245.20 and a 200-day moving average price of $259.74. The Progressive Corporation has a 12-month low of $228.54 and a 12-month high of $292.99.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 16th. The insurance provider reported $4.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.43 by $0.45. The firm had revenue of $20.08 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $20.39 billion. Progressive had a return on equity of 35.37% and a net margin of 12.66%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.48 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that The Progressive Corporation will post 14.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 2nd were given a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 2nd. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 2.25%.

Progressive Profile

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.