Nwam LLC Purchases New Position in The Progressive Corporation $PGR

Nwam LLC purchased a new stake in The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 3,389 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $825,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Progressive during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $2,156,939,000. Alliancebernstein L.P. boosted its stake in Progressive by 32.8% in the second quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 10,972,574 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,928,141,000 after purchasing an additional 2,709,417 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Progressive by 0.9% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 54,516,288 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $14,548,217,000 after purchasing an additional 493,332 shares during the last quarter. Temasek Holdings Private Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Progressive in the second quarter valued at $117,057,000. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of Progressive by 154.3% in the second quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 673,646 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $179,769,000 after buying an additional 408,779 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Progressive Trading Down 0.6%

NYSE PGR opened at $202.35 on Friday. The Progressive Corporation has a 12 month low of $199.90 and a 12 month high of $292.99. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $222.93 and a 200 day simple moving average of $234.18. The company has a current ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. The company has a market capitalization of $118.66 billion, a PE ratio of 11.10, a P/E/G ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.34.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 15th. The insurance provider reported $4.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.04 by ($0.59). The company had revenue of $21.38 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $21.64 billion. Progressive had a return on equity of 33.88% and a net margin of 12.57%.During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.58 EPS. Research analysts forecast that The Progressive Corporation will post 14.68 EPS for the current year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 8th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 2nd were issued a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 2nd. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.2%. Progressive’s payout ratio is 2.19%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Progressive

In related news, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $228.48, for a total transaction of $1,142,400.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 223,024 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $50,956,523.52. This trade represents a 2.19% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Steven Broz sold 1,345 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $228.29, for a total value of $307,050.05. Following the transaction, the insider owned 27,698 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,323,176.42. This represents a 4.63% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 9,034 shares of company stock valued at $2,047,481 in the last three months. 0.34% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have commented on PGR shares. HSBC set a $259.00 price objective on shares of Progressive and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a report on Monday, November 17th. Bank of America decreased their price target on shares of Progressive from $350.00 to $348.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, December 9th. Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of Progressive from $301.38 to $300.60 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, December 15th. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Progressive in a research report on Wednesday, December 17th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Progressive in a research report on Monday, December 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have assigned a Buy rating, twelve have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $259.39.

Progressive Company 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.