GoodHaven Capital Management LLC Grows Holdings in The Progressive Corporation $PGR

GoodHaven Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) by 7.4% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 61,671 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,223 shares during the quarter. Progressive accounts for approximately 4.2% of GoodHaven Capital Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 11th largest holding. GoodHaven Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Progressive were worth $13,472,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PGR. California State Teachers Retirement System boosted its position in Progressive by 23,059.4% in the 2nd quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 199,767,282 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $43,639,163,000 after buying an additional 198,904,705 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Progressive in the second quarter valued at approximately $10,496,271,000. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Progressive by 0.3% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 25,808,762 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $6,373,474,000 after purchasing an additional 78,374 shares during the period. Capital International Investors grew its stake in Progressive by 8.9% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 14,921,724 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $3,398,123,000 after purchasing an additional 1,217,527 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE bought a new position in Progressive in the second quarter worth approximately $2,682,342,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Karen Bailo sold 8,452 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the sale, the insider owned 32,348 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,880,743.08. This represents a 20.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Lori Niederst sold 7,339 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $209.29, for a total transaction of $1,535,979.31. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 42,567 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,908,847.43. This trade represents a 14.71% 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. Insiders have sold a total of 113,714 shares of company stock worth $24,466,294 over the last 90 days. 0.32% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. UBS Group lifted their target price on Progressive from $225.00 to $234.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 27th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded Progressive from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $226.00 to $250.00 in a report on Thursday, August 20th. HSBC upped their price objective on shares of Progressive from $214.00 to $221.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, July 6th. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “hold” rating and set a $228.00 target price on shares of Progressive in a report on Wednesday, August 19th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada set a $208.00 target price on shares of Progressive in a research report on Friday, May 22nd. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $236.26.

Progressive Stock Down 2.0%

Shares of PGR traded down $4.28 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $214.67. The company had a trading volume of 1,911,931 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,115,816. 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 company has a market capitalization of $124.80 billion, a PE ratio of 10.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 0.27. The Progressive Corporation has a one year low of $189.20 and a one year high of $249.71. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $217.55 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $207.89.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 15th. The insurance provider reported $5.67 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.64 by $1.03. The company had revenue of $23.61 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $19.49 billion. Progressive had a return on equity of 32.92% and a net margin of 12.84%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $5.40 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that The Progressive Corporation will post 17.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 9th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 1st will be given a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 1st. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.2%. Progressive’s payout ratio is presently 2.01%.

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.