Flputnam Investment Management Co. Buys Shares of 3,298 The Progressive Corporation $PGR

Flputnam Investment Management Co. bought a new position in The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) in the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor bought 3,298 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $720,000.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Progressive by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 55,261,140 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $12,584,067,000 after purchasing an additional 593,612 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Progressive by 0.3% in the 3rd 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 during the last quarter. Capital International Investors boosted its holdings in Progressive by 8.9% in 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 last quarter. GQG Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Progressive by 11.7% in the 4th quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 10,432,549 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,375,706,000 after buying an additional 1,092,151 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Progressive in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,836,094,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently commented on PGR shares. Evercore set a $240.00 price target on shares of Progressive in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $208.00 price objective on Progressive in a research report on Friday, May 22nd. William Blair reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Progressive in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. Cantor Fitzgerald reduced their target price on Progressive from $220.00 to $200.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. Finally, Morgan Stanley upgraded Progressive from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $190.00 to $210.00 in a report on Friday, July 24th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $233.16.

Insider Transactions at Progressive

In related news, insider Karen Bailo sold 8,452 shares of the company’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 transaction of $1,797,824.92. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 32,348 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,880,743.08. This represents a 20.72% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Lori A. Niederst sold 7,339 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $209.29, for a total transaction of $1,535,979.31. Following the sale, the insider owned 42,567 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,908,847.43. This trade represents a 14.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 82,224 shares of company stock valued at $17,416,438. 0.32% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Progressive Price Performance

PGR opened at $203.98 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $214.43 and its 200 day moving average price is $206.43. The Progressive Corporation has a 12-month low of $189.20 and a 12-month high of $254.93. The firm has a market cap of $118.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.23, a PEG ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.27. The company has a current ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 15th. The insurance provider reported $5.67 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.64 by $1.03. The company had revenue of $23.61 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $19.49 billion. Progressive had a return on equity of 32.92% and a net margin of 12.84%.Progressive’s revenue was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $5.40 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that The Progressive Corporation will post 17.57 earnings per share for the current year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 9th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 1st will be paid a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 1st. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.2%. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.