Manning & Napier Advisors LLC Purchases Shares of 52,162 The Progressive Corporation $PGR

Manning & Napier Advisors LLC acquired a new position in The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 52,162 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $11,468,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of PGR. Brighton Jones LLC increased its position in Progressive by 15.6% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 3,392 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $813,000 after purchasing an additional 457 shares during the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Progressive in the 4th quarter worth $269,000. Bison Wealth LLC increased 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 buying an additional 80 shares during the last quarter. HUB Investment Partners LLC raised its position 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 buying an additional 166 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Diversify Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 1,622 shares during the last quarter. 85.34% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Progressive Trading Up 2.1%

Shares of NYSE PGR opened at $223.87 on Tuesday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $215.94 and its 200-day moving average price is $206.82. The Progressive Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $189.20 and a fifty-two week high of $249.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a quick ratio of 0.29 and a current ratio of 0.29. The company has a market cap of $130.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.23, a PEG ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 0.27.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 15th. The insurance provider reported $5.67 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.64 by $1.03. The business 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%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $5.40 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that The Progressive Corporation will post 17.71 earnings per share for the current year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 9th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 1st. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.2%. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 2.01%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PGR has been the topic of several analyst reports. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Progressive from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 30th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Progressive from $198.00 to $201.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 20th. Morgan Stanley raised Progressive from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $190.00 to $210.00 in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Roth Capital restated a “buy” rating and issued a $245.00 price target on shares of Progressive in a research report on Thursday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Progressive from $250.00 to $241.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, August 4th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $236.05.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, 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 transaction of $1,797,824.92. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 32,348 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,880,743.08. This trade represents a 20.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Jeffrey D. Kelly sold 7,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $216.33, for a total transaction of $1,514,310.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 22,546 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,877,376.18. This trade represents a 23.69% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last three months, insiders sold 83,449 shares of company stock worth $17,685,203. 0.32% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.