Cornerstone Advisors LLC Invests $17.38 Million in The Progressive Corporation $PGR

Cornerstone Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 79,542 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $17,376,000.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Progressive by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 55,261,140 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $12,584,067,000 after acquiring an additional 593,612 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in Progressive in the 2nd quarter valued at about $10,496,271,000. State Street Corp lifted its position in Progressive by 0.3% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 25,808,762 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $6,373,474,000 after buying an additional 78,374 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors raised its holdings in shares of Progressive by 8.9% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 14,921,724 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $3,398,123,000 after acquiring an additional 1,217,527 shares during the period. Finally, GQG Partners LLC raised its stake in Progressive by 11.7% during the fourth quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 10,432,549 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,375,706,000 after purchasing an additional 1,092,151 shares during the period. 85.34% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Progressive Price Performance

Shares of PGR opened at $203.98 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $214.43 and a 200-day simple moving average of $206.43. The Progressive Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $189.20 and a fifty-two week high of $254.93. The company has a market capitalization of $118.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a quick ratio of 0.29 and a current ratio of 0.29.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 15th. The insurance provider reported $5.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.64 by $1.03. Progressive had a return on equity of 32.92% and a net margin of 12.84%.The business had revenue of $23.61 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $19.49 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $5.40 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that The Progressive Corporation will post 17.57 earnings per share for the current year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 9th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 1st will be issued a $0.10 dividend. 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 payout ratio is currently 2.01%.

Insider Transactions at Progressive

In related news, CFO Andrew J. Quigg sold 3,499 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $220.00, for a total transaction of $769,780.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 42,595 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,370,900. This represents a 7.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CIO Jonathan S. Bauer sold 2,242 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $212.71, for a total transaction of $476,895.82. Following the transaction, the executive directly owned 26,250 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,583,637.50. This trade represents a 7.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 82,224 shares of company stock valued at $17,416,438. 0.32% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PGR has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. UBS Group lifted their target price on Progressive from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 30th. William Blair reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Progressive in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on Progressive from $250.00 to $241.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, August 4th. Cantor Fitzgerald decreased their price objective on shares of Progressive from $220.00 to $200.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday. Finally, Morgan Stanley upgraded Progressive from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $190.00 to $210.00 in a research note on Friday, July 24th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $233.16.

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.