Port Capital LLC Makes New Investment in The Progressive Corporation $PGR

Port Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm acquired 237,808 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $51,949,000. Progressive makes up about 2.1% of Port Capital LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 16th biggest position.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Bogart Wealth LLC boosted its position in shares of Progressive by 235.1% during the first quarter. Bogart Wealth LLC now owns 124 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 87 shares during the last quarter. IMG Wealth Management Inc. bought a new stake in Progressive in the 2nd quarter valued at $26,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in Progressive in the 2nd quarter valued at $26,000. Bard Associates Inc. purchased a new stake in Progressive in the 4th quarter worth $27,000. Finally, Kilter Group LLC purchased a new stake in Progressive in the 2nd quarter worth $27,000. Institutional investors own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Evercore set a $240.00 price objective on Progressive in a research report on Friday, July 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on Progressive from $250.00 to $241.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, August 4th. BMO Capital Markets reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Progressive in a research note on Wednesday, August 19th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded Progressive from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price target for the company from $226.00 to $250.00 in a report on Thursday, August 20th. Finally, HSBC upped their price target on shares of Progressive from $214.00 to $221.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, July 6th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Progressive has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $236.05.

Progressive Price Performance

Shares of PGR stock opened at $222.36 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $129.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.15, a P/E/G ratio of 2.96 and a beta of 0.27. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $216.64 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $207.04. The Progressive Corporation has a one year low of $189.20 and a one year high of $249.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 0.29 and a quick ratio of 0.29.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last posted its quarterly 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. Progressive had a net margin of 12.84% and a return on equity of 32.92%. The firm had revenue of $23.61 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $19.49 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $5.40 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 5.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that The Progressive Corporation will post 17.74 EPS for the current year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 9th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 1st will be issued a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 1st. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio is currently 2.01%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Progressive

In related news, CEO Susan Patricia Griffith sold 37,338 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $212.71, for a total value of $7,942,165.98. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 522,776 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $111,199,682.96. This represents a 6.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Jeffrey D. Kelly sold 7,000 shares of the 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 transaction, the director owned 22,546 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,877,376.18. The trade was a 23.69% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 83,449 shares of company stock worth $17,685,203. Insiders own 0.32% of the company’s stock.

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.