Stoneridge Investment Partners LLC Purchases Shares of 3,326 The Progressive Corporation $PGR

Stoneridge Investment Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 3,326 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $703,000.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in PGR. Allstate Corp increased its holdings in shares of Progressive by 106.1% during the 4th 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 acquired a new position in Progressive in the fourth quarter valued at $1,836,094,000. Investment House LLC purchased a new stake in Progressive during the fourth quarter valued at about $8,447,000. Van Cleef Asset Management Inc grew its position in Progressive by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Van Cleef Asset Management Inc now owns 761,587 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $173,429,000 after acquiring an additional 9,017 shares during the period. Finally, Life Cycle Investment Partners Ltd acquired a new stake in Progressive during the fourth quarter worth about $353,906,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Progressive news, insider John Jo Murphy sold 8,124 shares of the company’s 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 completion of the transaction, the insider owned 41,291 shares in the company, valued at $8,782,595.70. This represents a 16.44% decrease in their position. 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, CFO Andrew J. Quigg sold 3,499 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $220.00, for a total transaction of $769,780.00. Following the completion of the sale, 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. 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 sold a total of 74,885 shares of company stock worth $15,880,459 in the last ninety days. 0.32% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on PGR. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Progressive in a report on Monday, August 3rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their target price on Progressive from $231.00 to $226.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 16th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Progressive from $205.00 to $198.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. William Blair restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Progressive in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of Progressive from $250.00 to $241.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, August 4th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $235.00.

Progressive Trading Up 0.3%

NYSE:PGR opened at $209.48 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $214.36 and its two-hundred day moving average is $206.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 0.29 and a quick ratio of 0.29. The Progressive Corporation has a 12 month low of $189.20 and a 12 month high of $254.93. The firm has a market capitalization of $121.79 billion, a PE ratio of 10.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.27.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 15th. The insurance provider reported $5.67 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $23.61 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $19.49 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $5.40 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.0% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that The Progressive Corporation will post 17.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

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