3,389 Shares in The Progressive Corporation $PGR Acquired by Stonehage Fleming Financial Services Holdings Ltd

Stonehage Fleming Financial Services Holdings Ltd acquired a new stake in The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 3,389 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $740,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in shares of Progressive in the second quarter worth $10,496,271,000. Bank of America Corp DE bought a new stake in shares of Progressive during the 2nd quarter valued at $2,682,342,000. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Progressive during the 4th quarter valued at $1,836,094,000. GQG Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Progressive during the 2nd quarter worth about $1,538,570,000. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG purchased a new stake in Progressive during the 2nd quarter worth about $1,098,838,000. Institutional investors own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have weighed in on PGR. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised Progressive from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $226.00 to $250.00 in a report on Thursday, August 20th. Evercore set a $240.00 price target on shares of Progressive in a report on Friday, July 10th. Bank of America cut their price objective on shares of Progressive from $313.00 to $308.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. HSBC boosted their price objective on shares of Progressive from $214.00 to $221.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, July 6th. Finally, UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Progressive from $225.00 to $234.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $236.26.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 522,776 shares in the company, valued at approximately $111,199,682.96. This represents a 6.67% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Karen Bailo sold 8,452 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the insider owned 32,348 shares in the company, valued at $6,880,743.08. This trade represents a 20.72% 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. Insiders have sold 83,449 shares of company stock valued at $17,685,203 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.32% of the company’s stock.

Progressive Price Performance

Shares of NYSE PGR opened at $217.51 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $126.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.91, a P/E/G ratio of 2.96 and a beta of 0.27. The company has a quick ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 0.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $216.90 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $207.15. The Progressive Corporation has a twelve month low of $189.20 and a twelve month high of $249.83.

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, 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 firm had revenue of $23.61 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $19.49 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $5.40 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that The Progressive Corporation will post 17.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 9th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 1st will be paid 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 dividend 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.