Delta Investment Management LLC Acquires 2,762 Shares of The Progressive Corporation $PGR

Delta Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) by 99.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,547 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,762 shares during the quarter. Delta Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Progressive were worth $1,263,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Capital International Investors raised its position in shares of Progressive by 78.9% in the third quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 13,704,197 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $3,384,082,000 after purchasing an additional 6,045,732 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors grew its stake in Progressive by 26.1% in the 3rd quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 11,167,940 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,757,905,000 after buying an additional 2,314,864 shares during the last quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC raised its holdings in Progressive by 2,012.0% in the 3rd quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 767,549 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $189,546,000 after acquiring an additional 731,207 shares during the period. M&T Bank Corp lifted its position in Progressive by 1,363.8% during the fourth quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 706,898 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $160,975,000 after acquiring an additional 658,607 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Marshfield Associates lifted its position in Progressive by 70.8% during the third quarter. Marshfield Associates now owns 1,577,453 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $389,552,000 after acquiring an additional 653,763 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PGR has been the topic of several research reports. Zacks Research raised Progressive from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 24th. Citigroup reduced their price target on Progressive from $300.60 to $261.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 3rd. Bank of America increased their price objective on Progressive from $295.00 to $298.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 14th. Argus raised shares of Progressive to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. Finally, HSBC downgraded shares of Progressive from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 16th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Progressive currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $238.39.

Progressive Price Performance

PGR traded down $1.90 on Thursday, hitting $198.76. 155,169 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,239,064. The firm has a market capitalization of $116.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.08, a PEG ratio of 6.66 and a beta of 0.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 0.33 and a quick ratio of 0.35. The Progressive Corporation has a 12 month low of $192.02 and a 12 month high of $289.96. The business has a 50-day moving average of $203.18 and a two-hundred day moving average of $212.45.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 15th. The insurance provider reported $4.80 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.67 by $0.13. Progressive had a net margin of 12.92% and a return on equity of 33.47%. The firm had revenue of $22.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $23.51 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $4.37 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that The Progressive Corporation will post 16.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 2nd were paid a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 2nd. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.2%. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio is presently 2.03%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Progressive news, insider Maribel Pumarejo sold 739 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $203.25, for a total value of $150,201.75. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Karen Bailo sold 3,517 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $212.00, for a total value of $745,604.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 32,348 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,857,776. The trade was a 9.81% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 6,933 shares of company stock valued at $1,441,564 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.32% of the company’s stock.

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.