Osterweis Capital Management Inc. Acquires New Holdings in The Progressive Corporation $PGR

Osterweis Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm bought 142,193 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $31,062,000. Progressive makes up about 1.5% of Osterweis Capital Management Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 24th biggest position.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Meeder Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Progressive in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Bard Associates Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Progressive in the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. IMG Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Progressive in the second quarter valued at $26,000. Bogart Wealth LLC boosted its stake in shares of Progressive by 235.1% during the first quarter. Bogart Wealth LLC now owns 124 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 87 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kilter Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Progressive during the second quarter valued at $27,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Karen Bailo sold 8,452 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $212.71, for a total value of $1,797,824.92. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 32,348 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,880,743.08. The trade was a 20.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Andrew J. Quigg sold 3,499 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly owned 42,595 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,370,900. This trade represents a 7.59% 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. In the last three months, insiders sold 83,449 shares of company stock valued at $17,685,203. 0.32% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Evercore set a $240.00 target price on shares of Progressive in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Progressive from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $190.00 to $210.00 in a research note on Friday, July 24th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Progressive from $198.00 to $201.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 20th. William Blair reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Progressive in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reduced their price objective on shares of Progressive from $220.00 to $200.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 17th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $236.05.

Progressive Stock Performance

Progressive stock opened at $223.87 on Tuesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $215.94 and a 200 day moving average price of $206.82. The Progressive Corporation has a 52 week low of $189.20 and a 52 week high of $249.83. The firm has a market capitalization of $130.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.23, a PEG ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 0.27. The company has a current ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 15th. The insurance provider reported $5.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.64 by $1.03. The firm had revenue of $23.61 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $19.49 billion. Progressive had a return on equity of 32.92% and a net margin of 12.84%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $5.40 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that The Progressive Corporation will post 17.71 earnings per share for the current year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

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

About Progressive

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.