Bridgewater Advisors Inc. Makes New $641,000 Investment in The Progressive Corporation $PGR

Bridgewater Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm purchased 3,046 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $641,000.

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

Progressive Price Performance

Shares of PGR opened at $209.48 on Friday. 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’s fifty day simple moving average is $214.36 and its 200 day simple moving average is $206.47. The Progressive Corporation has a 1-year low of $189.20 and a 1-year high of $254.93. The company has a market cap of $121.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.51, a PEG ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.27.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 15th. The insurance provider reported $5.67 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.64 by $1.03. The company had revenue of $23.61 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $19.49 billion. Progressive had a net margin of 12.84% and a return on equity of 32.92%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 5.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $5.40 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that The Progressive Corporation will post 17.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 9th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 1st will be paid a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 1st. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 2.01%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Progressive

In other news, insider Karen Bailo sold 8,452 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $212.71, for a total transaction of $1,797,824.92. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 32,348 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,880,743.08. The trade was a 20.72% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Susan Patricia Griffith sold 37,338 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $212.71, for a total value of $7,942,165.98. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 522,776 shares in the company, valued at $111,199,682.96. The trade was a 6.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 74,885 shares of company stock valued at $15,880,459 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.32% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently commented on PGR. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price objective on shares of Progressive from $231.00 to $226.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on shares of Progressive from $220.00 to $205.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Progressive in a research report on Monday, August 3rd. Bank of America reduced their price objective on shares of Progressive from $313.00 to $308.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. Finally, HSBC raised their price objective on Progressive from $214.00 to $221.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, July 6th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $235.00.

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.