Rakuten Investment Management Inc. Purchases New Position in The Progressive Corporation $PGR

Rakuten Investment Management Inc. acquired a new position in The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 95,611 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $21,021,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of PGR. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in shares of Progressive in the second quarter worth $10,496,271,000. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of Progressive by 0.3% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 25,808,762 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $6,373,474,000 after purchasing an additional 78,374 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors raised its stake in shares of Progressive by 8.9% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 14,921,724 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $3,398,123,000 after purchasing an additional 1,217,527 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE bought a new stake in shares of Progressive during the 2nd quarter valued at $2,682,342,000. Finally, GQG Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Progressive by 11.7% during the 4th quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 10,432,549 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,375,706,000 after purchasing an additional 1,092,151 shares in the last quarter. 85.34% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Progressive news, insider John Jo Murphy sold 8,124 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $212.70, for a total value of $1,727,974.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 41,291 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,782,595.70. The trade was a 16.44% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Karen Bailo sold 8,452 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $212.71, for a total transaction of $1,797,824.92. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 32,348 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,880,743.08. This represents a 20.72% 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 83,449 shares of company stock valued at $17,685,203 in the last 90 days. 0.32% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PGR has been the subject of several analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “hold” rating and issued a $228.00 target price on shares of Progressive in a research note on Wednesday, August 19th. Morgan Stanley upgraded Progressive from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and upped their price target for the company from $190.00 to $210.00 in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Evercore set a $240.00 price target on shares of Progressive in a report on Friday, July 10th. Roth Capital restated a “buy” rating and issued a $245.00 price objective on shares of Progressive in a research report on Thursday, August 20th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Progressive from $225.00 to $234.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday. 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 stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $236.26.

Progressive Price Performance

NYSE:PGR opened at $218.90 on Friday. The Progressive Corporation has a 52-week low of $189.20 and a 52-week high of $249.83. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $217.19 and a 200 day moving average of $207.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a quick ratio of 0.29 and a current ratio of 0.29. The firm has a market capitalization 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.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last announced its 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. Progressive had a return on equity of 32.92% and a net margin of 12.84%.The business had revenue of $23.61 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $19.49 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $5.40 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that The Progressive Corporation will post 17.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

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