Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. Purchases New Position in The Progressive Corporation $PGR

Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. acquired a new position in The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 4,181 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $913,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PGR. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its stake in Progressive by 15.6% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 3,392 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $813,000 after acquiring an additional 457 shares during the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Progressive during the 4th quarter worth $269,000. Bison Wealth LLC raised its holdings in shares of Progressive by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. Bison Wealth LLC now owns 2,568 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $615,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. HUB Investment Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Progressive by 7.8% during the 2nd quarter. HUB Investment Partners LLC now owns 2,282 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $609,000 after purchasing an additional 166 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Diversify Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Progressive by 12.0% in the 2nd quarter. Diversify Wealth Management LLC now owns 15,146 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $3,681,000 after purchasing an additional 1,622 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on PGR shares. HSBC upped their price objective on shares of Progressive from $214.00 to $221.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, July 6th. William Blair reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Progressive in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. Cantor Fitzgerald decreased their price target on Progressive from $220.00 to $200.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 17th. UBS Group increased their price objective on Progressive from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on Progressive from $250.00 to $241.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, August 4th. Seven equities 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. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $236.05.

Progressive Price Performance

NYSE PGR opened at $219.45 on Friday. The Progressive Corporation has a 1 year low of $189.20 and a 1 year high of $252.82. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $215.53 and a 200 day simple moving average of $206.64. The company has a current ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. The company has a market cap 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 announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 15th. The insurance provider reported $5.67 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.64 by $1.03. The firm had revenue of $23.61 billion for 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%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $5.40 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that The Progressive Corporation will post 17.71 EPS for the current year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 9th. Stockholders 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 of this dividend is Thursday, October 1st. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 2.01%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider John Jo Murphy sold 8,124 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $212.70, for a total transaction of $1,727,974.80. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 41,291 shares in the company, valued at $8,782,595.70. This represents a 16.44% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Karen Bailo sold 8,452 shares of the firm’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 completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 32,348 shares in the company, valued at $6,880,743.08. This trade 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 a total of 82,224 shares of company stock valued at $17,416,438 in 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.