William Blair Investment Management LLC Buys Shares of 32,431 The Progressive Corporation $PGR

William Blair Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) during the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund purchased 32,431 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $7,085,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Pines Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Progressive by 3.9% in the 4th quarter. Pines Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,399 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $319,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares during the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Investment Management Company LLC lifted its position in Progressive by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Northwestern Mutual Investment Management Company LLC now owns 18,736 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $4,267,000 after acquiring an additional 52 shares during the last quarter. Phillips Wealth Planners LLC increased its stake in shares of Progressive by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. Phillips Wealth Planners LLC now owns 1,916 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $436,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares during the period. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. boosted its stake in Progressive by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. now owns 4,307 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $981,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares during the period. Finally, Brown Miller Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Progressive by 2.4% in the second quarter. Brown Miller Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,365 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $517,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares during the period. 85.34% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Progressive Price Performance

Progressive stock opened at $219.45 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $127.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.01, a P/E/G ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 0.27. The Progressive Corporation has a 12-month low of $189.20 and a 12-month high of $252.82. 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 business’s 50-day simple moving average is $215.53 and its 200 day simple moving average is $206.66.

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

Progressive Announces Dividend

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

Insider Transactions at Progressive

In other Progressive news, insider Lori A. Niederst sold 7,339 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $209.29, for a total value of $1,535,979.31. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 42,567 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,908,847.43. This trade represents a 14.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible 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 Progressive stock in a transaction 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 in the company, valued at approximately $9,370,900. This represents a 7.59% 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. In the last three months, insiders have sold 82,224 shares of company stock valued at $17,416,438. Corporate insiders own 0.32% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on PGR shares. Roth Capital reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $245.00 target price on shares of Progressive in a research note on Thursday. HSBC upped their target price 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. Evercore set a $240.00 target price on Progressive in a research report on Friday, July 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of Progressive from $250.00 to $241.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, August 4th. Finally, Mizuho set a $236.00 price objective on shares of Progressive in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Progressive currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $236.05.

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.