Joseph Group Capital Management Has $2.20 Million Holdings in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Joseph Group Capital Management lifted its position in shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 8.6% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 10,601 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 838 shares during the quarter. Progressive accounts for 1.1% of Joseph Group Capital Management’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 26th largest holding. Joseph Group Capital Management’s holdings in Progressive were worth $2,202,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Progressive by 0.6% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 51,751,851 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $10,703,318,000 after buying an additional 285,070 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors raised its holdings in shares of Progressive by 15.7% in the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 4,925,019 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,018,592,000 after acquiring an additional 670,006 shares during the last quarter. FIL Ltd lifted its position in Progressive by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 4,885,731 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $778,199,000 after acquiring an additional 19,724 shares in the last quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in Progressive by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,577,731 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $569,861,000 after purchasing an additional 86,686 shares in the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. raised its stake in shares of Progressive by 3.0% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 2,392,773 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $497,003,000 after purchasing an additional 69,709 shares during the last quarter. 85.34% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PGR has been the subject of several recent research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on Progressive from $262.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Progressive from $210.00 to $239.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 11th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Progressive from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 12th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on shares of Progressive from $255.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. Finally, Roth Mkm boosted their target price on Progressive from $270.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $257.18.

Progressive Trading Down 1.0 %

Shares of Progressive stock opened at $255.17 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 0.31 and a current ratio of 0.31. The stock has a market capitalization of $149.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.12, a P/E/G ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.35. The Progressive Co. has a 52-week low of $137.59 and a 52-week high of $260.46. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $233.24 and its 200 day simple moving average is $216.58.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 16th. The insurance provider reported $2.65 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.04 by $0.61. Progressive had a net margin of 10.17% and a return on equity of 33.01%. The company had revenue of $17.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17.54 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.57 EPS. Progressive’s revenue was up 21.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that The Progressive Co. will post 12.29 EPS for the current year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 3rd will be given a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.16%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 3rd. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 4.09%.

Insider Activity at Progressive

In other Progressive news, CEO Susan Patricia Griffith sold 43,371 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $214.01, for a total value of $9,281,827.71. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 517,105 shares in the company, valued at approximately $110,665,641.05. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Progressive news, CEO Susan Patricia Griffith sold 43,371 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $214.01, for a total value of $9,281,827.71. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 517,105 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $110,665,641.05. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Steven Broz sold 3,050 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $209.81, for a total transaction of $639,920.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 32,453 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,808,963.93. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 146,704 shares of company stock worth $33,367,408. 0.34% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About Progressive

The Progressive Corporation, an insurance holding company, provides personal and commercial auto, personal residential and commercial property, business related general liability, and other specialty property-casualty insurance products and related services in the United States. It operates in three segments: Personal Lines, Commercial Lines, and Property.