Equitable Holdings Inc. Acquires New Position in The Progressive Corporation $PGR

Equitable Holdings Inc. acquired 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 & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 4,203 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $918,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its position in shares of Progressive by 15.6% during the 4th 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 period. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Progressive in the 4th quarter worth approximately $269,000. Bison Wealth LLC grew its holdings in shares of Progressive by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. Bison Wealth LLC now owns 2,568 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $615,000 after acquiring an additional 80 shares during the period. HUB Investment Partners LLC increased its stake in Progressive by 7.8% in 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 increased its stake in 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 in the last quarter. 85.34% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Lori A. Niederst sold 7,339 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $209.29, for a total transaction of $1,535,979.31. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 42,567 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,908,847.43. This represents a 14.71% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CIO Jonathan S. Bauer sold 2,242 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $212.71, for a total transaction of $476,895.82. Following the transaction, the executive owned 26,250 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,583,637.50. The trade was a 7.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 83,449 shares of company stock worth $17,685,203 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.32% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $208.00 target price on Progressive in a research report on Friday, May 22nd. Evercore set a $240.00 price target on Progressive in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Cantor Fitzgerald cut 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 boosted their price objective on shares of Progressive from $225.00 to $234.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised shares of Progressive from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $226.00 to $250.00 in a research note on Thursday, August 20th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Progressive currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $236.26.

Progressive Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE PGR opened at $218.90 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $127.26 billion, a PE ratio of 10.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 0.27. The Progressive Corporation has a 12 month low of $189.20 and a 12 month high of $249.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 0.29 and a quick ratio of 0.29. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $217.19 and a 200-day simple moving average of $207.23.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 15th. The insurance provider reported $5.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.64 by $1.03. The firm had revenue of $23.61 billion for 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%. Progressive’s revenue was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $5.40 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that The Progressive Corporation will post 17.74 earnings per share for the current year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 9th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 1st will be issued a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 1st. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.2%. Progressive’s payout ratio is 2.01%.

Progressive Profile

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.