16,528 Shares in The Progressive Corporation $PGR Bought by United Capital Financial Advisors LLC

United Capital Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 16,528 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $3,610,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in shares of Progressive in the 2nd quarter valued at $10,496,271,000. Bank of America Corp DE bought a new position in shares of Progressive in the second quarter worth about $2,682,342,000. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Progressive in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,836,094,000. GQG Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Progressive during the second quarter worth $1,538,570,000. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG acquired a new position in shares of Progressive during the second quarter worth $1,098,838,000. 85.34% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently commented on PGR shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Progressive from $250.00 to $241.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, August 4th. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $228.00 target price on shares of Progressive in a report on Wednesday, August 19th. Roth Capital reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $245.00 target price on shares of Progressive in a research report on Thursday, August 20th. Bank of America cut their price target on Progressive from $313.00 to $308.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded Progressive from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $226.00 to $250.00 in a report on Thursday, August 20th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $236.26.

Progressive Stock Performance

Shares of Progressive stock opened at $218.90 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $127.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.98, a P/E/G ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.27. The Progressive Corporation has a twelve month low of $189.20 and a twelve month high of $249.83. The company’s fifty day moving average is $217.19 and its 200 day moving average is $207.23. 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 announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 15th. The insurance provider reported $5.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.64 by $1.03. The business had revenue of $23.61 billion during 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%.Progressive’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $5.40 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that The Progressive Corporation will post 17.74 EPS for the current year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

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 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 is Thursday, October 1st. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 2.01%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider John Jo Murphy sold 8,124 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $212.70, for a total value of $1,727,974.80. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 41,291 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,782,595.70. The trade was a 16.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Karen Bailo sold 8,452 shares of the company’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 owned 32,348 shares in the company, valued at $6,880,743.08. The trade was a 20.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 83,449 shares of company stock valued at $17,685,203 over the last 90 days. 0.32% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.