The Progressive Corporation $PGR Stock Position Raised by Joseph Group Capital Management

Joseph Group Capital Management increased its position in The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) by 20.1% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 15,919 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,663 shares during the period. Joseph Group Capital Management’s holdings in Progressive were worth $3,931,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Davis Capital Management acquired a new position in Progressive during the third quarter valued at $25,000. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp purchased a new position in Progressive during the 2nd quarter valued at about $33,000. Ransom Advisory Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Progressive in the 1st quarter valued at about $35,000. Howard Hughes Medical Institute purchased a new stake in shares of Progressive in the second quarter worth approximately $34,000. Finally, Westside Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Progressive by 900.0% during the second quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. now owns 130 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 117 shares during the period. 85.34% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Progressive

In other Progressive news, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $228.48, for a total transaction of $1,142,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 223,024 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $50,956,523.52. The trade was a 2.19% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Steven Broz sold 1,345 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $228.29, for a total value of $307,050.05. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly 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. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 9,034 shares of company stock worth $2,047,481 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Progressive Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE PGR opened at $213.01 on Friday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $223.08 and its 200-day simple moving average is $236.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a quick ratio of 0.29 and a current ratio of 0.29. The Progressive Corporation has a 52 week low of $199.90 and a 52 week high of $292.99. The firm has a market cap of $124.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.68, a P/E/G ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 0.34.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last announced 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). Progressive had a return on equity of 33.88% and a net margin of 12.57%.The company had revenue of $21.38 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $21.64 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $3.58 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that The Progressive Corporation will post 14.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 8th. Investors of record on Friday, January 2nd were paid a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 2nd. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.2%. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 2.19%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have weighed in on PGR. Bank of America dropped their price objective 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. Evercore ISI dropped their price target on shares of Progressive from $250.00 to $237.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Citigroup cut their price objective on Progressive from $301.38 to $300.60 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, December 15th. Zacks Research downgraded Progressive from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, October 10th. Finally, Barclays raised Progressive from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $257.00 to $265.00 in a research report on Thursday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have assigned a Buy rating, twelve have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Progressive has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $260.74.

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.