Wealthfront Advisers LLC Takes $34.46 Million Position in The Progressive Corporation $PGR

Wealthfront Advisers LLC purchased a new stake in shares of The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm purchased 157,731 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $34,456,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Allstate Corp increased its stake in shares of Progressive by 106.1% in the fourth quarter. Allstate Corp now owns 44,513 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $10,136,000 after buying an additional 22,915 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in Progressive during the 4th quarter valued at $1,836,094,000. Investment House LLC bought a new position in Progressive during the 4th quarter valued at $8,447,000. Van Cleef Asset Management Inc grew its holdings in Progressive by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Van Cleef Asset Management Inc now owns 761,587 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $173,429,000 after acquiring an additional 9,017 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Life Cycle Investment Partners Ltd acquired a new position in Progressive during the 4th quarter worth $353,906,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Bank of America cut their target price on shares of Progressive from $313.00 to $308.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $208.00 price objective on Progressive in a report on Friday, May 22nd. HSBC upped their price objective on Progressive from $214.00 to $221.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, July 6th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Progressive in a report on Monday, August 3rd. Finally, Evercore set a $240.00 target price on Progressive in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $233.16.

Insider Buying and Selling at Progressive

In related news, insider Karen Bailo sold 8,452 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $212.71, for a total value of $1,797,824.92. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 32,348 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,880,743.08. This represents a 20.72% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 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 that occurred on 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 owned 41,291 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,782,595.70. This represents a 16.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 90 days, insiders sold 82,224 shares of company stock valued at $17,416,438. 0.32% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Progressive Trading Up 1.5%

Shares of NYSE:PGR opened at $206.98 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $120.33 billion, a PE ratio of 10.38, a P/E/G ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.27. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $214.58 and its 200 day moving average price is $206.39. 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 quick ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 0.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last posted 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 net margin of 12.84% and a return on equity of 32.92%. The firm had revenue of $23.61 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $19.49 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $5.40 EPS. Progressive’s revenue was up 5.0% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that The Progressive Corporation will post 17.57 earnings per share for the current year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 9th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 1st will be given a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 1st. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.2%. Progressive’s payout ratio is currently 2.01%.

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.