Wellington Management Group LLP Sells 749,882 Shares of The Progressive Corporation $PGR

Wellington Management Group LLP trimmed its position in The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) by 11.6% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 5,729,113 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 749,882 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP’s holdings in Progressive were worth $1,251,525,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Bogart Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in Progressive by 235.1% during the first quarter. Bogart Wealth LLC now owns 124 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 87 shares during the period. IMG Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Progressive during the 2nd quarter worth about $26,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in Progressive during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Bard Associates Inc. acquired a new stake in Progressive in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Finally, Kilter Group LLC bought a new position in Progressive in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $27,000. 85.34% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently commented on PGR shares. Mizuho set a $236.00 price target on Progressive in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “hold” rating and issued a $228.00 price objective on shares of Progressive in a research note on Wednesday, August 19th. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Progressive from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and upped their target price for the company from $190.00 to $210.00 in a research note on Friday, July 24th. Cantor Fitzgerald reduced their price target on shares of Progressive from $220.00 to $200.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, August 17th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Progressive in a research report on Wednesday, August 19th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Progressive has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $236.26.

Progressive Price Performance

Shares of PGR stock opened at $218.90 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $217.19 and a two-hundred day moving average of $207.23. The company has a current ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. The Progressive Corporation has a 12 month low of $189.20 and a 12 month high of $249.83. The company has a market capitalization of $127.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.98, a P/E/G ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.27.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 15th. The insurance provider reported $5.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.64 by $1.03. The business had revenue of $23.61 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $19.49 billion. Progressive had a return on equity of 32.92% and a net margin of 12.84%.Progressive’s quarterly revenue was up 5.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $5.40 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that The Progressive Corporation will post 17.74 EPS for the current year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 9th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 1st will be paid 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 payout ratio is currently 2.01%.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Steven Broz sold 1,225 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $219.40, for a total transaction of $268,765.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 31,257 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,857,785.80. This trade represents a 3.77% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Karen Bailo sold 8,452 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the insider owned 32,348 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,880,743.08. This trade represents a 20.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 83,449 shares of company stock valued at $17,685,203. 0.32% of the stock is owned by insiders.

About Progressive

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.