Daiichi Life Insurance Co. Ltd. Purchases Shares of 41,173 The Progressive Corporation $PGR

Daiichi Life Insurance Co. Ltd. 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 41,173 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $8,994,000.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in Progressive in the second quarter valued at $10,496,271,000. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Progressive during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,836,094,000. GQG Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Progressive during the 2nd quarter worth about $1,538,570,000. Deutsche Bank AG purchased a new position in shares of Progressive during the 2nd quarter worth about $1,098,838,000. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in Progressive by 181.8% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 6,506,302 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,481,615,000 after purchasing an additional 4,197,212 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently commented on PGR. Cantor Fitzgerald dropped their price target on shares of Progressive from $220.00 to $200.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 17th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Progressive in a report on Monday, August 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $230.00 target price on shares of Progressive in a research report on Wednesday. William Blair reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Progressive in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada set a $208.00 price objective on Progressive in a report on Friday, May 22nd. Seven investment 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, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $236.05.

Progressive Trading Down 0.4%

PGR opened at $219.45 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $215.53 and its 200-day moving average is $206.64. The Progressive Corporation has a 52-week low of $189.20 and a 52-week 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 firm has a market capitalization of $127.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.01, a P/E/G ratio of 2.94 and a beta of 0.27.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 15th. The insurance provider reported $5.67 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.64 by $1.03. The business had revenue of $23.61 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $19.49 billion. Progressive had a net margin of 12.84% and a return on equity of 32.92%. The business’s revenue was up 5.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $5.40 EPS. Analysts expect that The Progressive Corporation will post 17.71 EPS for the current fiscal 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 paid a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 1st. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 2.01%.

Insider Activity at Progressive

In related news, CEO Susan Patricia Griffith sold 37,338 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $212.71, for a total value of $7,942,165.98. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 522,776 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $111,199,682.96. This represents a 6.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Andrew J. Quigg sold 3,499 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 owned 42,595 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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 82,224 shares of company stock worth $17,416,438 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.