ProShare Advisors LLC Grows Stock Position in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

ProShare Advisors LLC boosted its position in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 4.9% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 119,994 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 5,556 shares during the period. ProShare Advisors LLC’s holdings in Progressive were worth $24,924,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of PGR. Northwest Bank & Trust Co acquired a new stake in Progressive in the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. WR Wealth Planners LLC grew its position in Progressive by 119.6% during the second quarter. WR Wealth Planners LLC now owns 123 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 67 shares during the period. Indiana Trust & Investment Management CO purchased a new position in Progressive in the first quarter valued at about $32,000. Hilltop National Bank lifted its position in shares of Progressive by 126.0% during the 2nd quarter. Hilltop National Bank now owns 165 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 92 shares during the period. Finally, Register Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Progressive during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $35,000. 85.34% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on PGR shares. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of Progressive from $243.00 to $246.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. HSBC raised shares of Progressive from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $253.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Monday, August 12th. Piper Sandler upped their target price on Progressive from $250.00 to $252.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Progressive from $281.00 to $282.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on Progressive from $255.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $257.18.

Progressive Trading Down 0.6 %

PGR opened at $257.60 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $234.97 and its 200-day moving average is $217.84. The Progressive Co. has a 52-week low of $137.59 and a 52-week high of $260.46. The company has a quick ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 0.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. The firm has a market capitalization of $150.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.37, a P/E/G ratio of 0.74 and a beta of 0.35.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 16th. The insurance provider reported $2.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.04 by $0.61. The firm had revenue of $17.90 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.54 billion. Progressive had a net margin of 10.17% and a return on equity of 33.01%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 21.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.57 EPS. Analysts expect that The Progressive Co. will post 12.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 3rd. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.16%. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 4.09%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Susan Patricia Griffith sold 43,371 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $214.01, for a total transaction of $9,281,827.71. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 517,105 shares in the company, valued at approximately $110,665,641.05. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other Progressive news, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $210.40, for a total transaction of $2,104,000.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 302,958 shares in the company, valued at $63,742,363.20. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Susan Patricia Griffith sold 43,371 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $110,665,641.05. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 151,350 shares of company stock worth $34,691,584 in the last three months. 0.34% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Progressive Profile

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.