River Road Asset Management LLC Sells 14,955 Shares of The Progressive Corporation $PGR

River Road Asset Management LLC lessened its stake in shares of The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) by 3.1% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 467,075 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 14,955 shares during the quarter. Progressive comprises 1.1% of River Road Asset Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 24th largest holding. River Road Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Progressive were worth $102,033,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Bogart Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Progressive by 235.1% in the first quarter. Bogart Wealth LLC now owns 124 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 87 shares in the last quarter. Bard Associates Inc. bought a new position in Progressive in the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Progressive by 700.0% during the 1st quarter. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 144 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 126 shares in the last quarter. IFC & Insurance Marketing Inc. bought a new position in shares of Progressive in the fourth quarter worth $29,000. Finally, Axiom Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Progressive in the first quarter worth $31,000. 85.34% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on PGR. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on Progressive from $220.00 to $205.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Progressive in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. William Blair reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Progressive in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on Progressive from $250.00 to $241.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, August 4th. Finally, Bank of America dropped their price target on Progressive from $313.00 to $308.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. Five 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 company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $235.00.

Progressive Stock Performance

NYSE PGR opened at $209.48 on Friday. The Progressive Corporation has a 52-week low of $189.20 and a 52-week high of $254.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a quick ratio of 0.29 and a current ratio of 0.29. The company has a market capitalization of $121.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.51, a P/E/G ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 0.27. The company has a fifty day moving average of $214.36 and a 200-day moving average of $206.47.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 15th. The insurance provider reported $5.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.64 by $1.03. The company had revenue of $23.61 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $19.49 billion. Progressive had a net margin of 12.84% and a return on equity of 32.92%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $5.40 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that The Progressive Corporation will post 17.57 EPS 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 issued a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 1st. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio is presently 2.01%.

Insider Transactions at Progressive

In other news, 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 directly owned 22,546 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,877,376.18. This represents a 23.69% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider John Jo Murphy sold 8,124 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $212.70, for a total value of $1,727,974.80. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 41,291 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,782,595.70. This represents a 16.44% 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. In the last three months, insiders sold 74,885 shares of company stock worth $15,880,459. Company insiders own 0.32% of the company’s stock.

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.