Horizon Investment Services LLC Acquires Shares of 3,066 The Progressive Corporation $PGR

Horizon Investment Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 3,066 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $670,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in PGR. Brighton Jones LLC increased its holdings in Progressive by 15.6% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 3,392 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $813,000 after purchasing an additional 457 shares in the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Progressive during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $269,000. Bison Wealth LLC boosted its position in shares of Progressive by 3.2% during the fourth quarter. Bison Wealth LLC now owns 2,568 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $615,000 after buying an additional 80 shares during the last quarter. HUB Investment Partners LLC grew its holdings in Progressive by 7.8% during the second quarter. HUB Investment Partners LLC now owns 2,282 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $609,000 after buying an additional 166 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Diversify Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Progressive by 12.0% during the second quarter. Diversify Wealth Management LLC now owns 15,146 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $3,681,000 after buying an additional 1,622 shares in the last quarter. 85.34% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have weighed in on PGR shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price objective on Progressive from $231.00 to $226.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. William Blair reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Progressive in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. Bank of America dropped their price target on shares of Progressive from $313.00 to $308.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. Mizuho set a $236.00 price objective on shares of Progressive in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada set a $208.00 target price on shares of Progressive in a research report on Friday, May 22nd. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $235.00.

Progressive Price Performance

Progressive stock opened at $209.48 on Monday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $214.36 and its 200 day simple moving average is $206.46. The Progressive Corporation has a 12 month low of $189.20 and a 12 month high of $254.93. The company has a market cap of $121.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.51, a PEG ratio of 2.82 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 earnings results on Wednesday, July 15th. The insurance provider reported $5.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $19.49 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $5.40 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 5.0% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that The Progressive Corporation will post 17.57 EPS for the current year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 9th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 1st will be issued 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 dividend payout ratio is 2.01%.

Insider Activity

In other 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 sale, the insider owned 32,348 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $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 SEC, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Susan Patricia Griffith sold 37,338 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 transaction of $7,942,165.98. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 522,776 shares in the company, valued at $111,199,682.96. The trade was a 6.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 74,885 shares of company stock valued at $15,880,459. 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.