Rakuten Investment Management Inc. Makes New Investment in The Progressive Corporation $PGR

Rakuten Investment Management Inc. purchased a new stake in The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 259,416 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $64,063,000.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Davis Capital Management acquired a new position in Progressive during the third quarter worth approximately $25,000. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Progressive during the 2nd quarter valued at $33,000. Westside Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Progressive by 900.0% during the 2nd quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. now owns 130 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 117 shares during the last quarter. Howard Hughes Medical Institute purchased a new stake in Progressive during the second quarter valued at about $34,000. Finally, Richardson Financial Services Inc. increased its stake in Progressive by 1,885.7% during the second quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 139 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $37,000 after acquiring an additional 132 shares during the last quarter. 85.34% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Progressive Stock Up 0.8%

Shares of NYSE PGR opened at $203.94 on Wednesday. The Progressive Corporation has a 1 year low of $198.50 and a 1 year high of $292.99. The firm has a market cap of $119.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.19, a PEG ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 0.34. 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 stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $222.31 and its 200-day simple moving average is $233.00.

Progressive Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Steven Broz sold 1,345 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $228.29, for a total value of $307,050.05. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 27,698 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,323,176.42. This represents a 4.63% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, 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 transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 223,024 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $50,956,523.52. This represents a 2.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 9,034 shares of company stock worth $2,047,481. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PGR has been the topic of several research analyst reports. William Blair lowered Progressive from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 18th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “underweight” rating on shares of Progressive in a research note on Wednesday, December 17th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on shares of Progressive from $250.00 to $252.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 6th. Zacks Research lowered shares of Progressive from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, October 10th. Finally, Barclays raised shares of Progressive from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $257.00 to $265.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 8th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Progressive has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $259.39.

Progressive 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.