Korea Investment CORP Takes Position in The Progressive Corporation $PGR

Korea Investment CORP acquired a new position in shares of The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund acquired 255,126 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $55,732,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PGR. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Progressive by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 55,261,140 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $12,584,067,000 after purchasing an additional 593,612 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in Progressive during the second quarter worth about $10,496,271,000. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Progressive by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 25,808,762 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $6,373,474,000 after purchasing an additional 78,374 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors boosted its holdings in shares of Progressive by 8.9% in the 4th 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, GQG Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Progressive by 11.7% during the 4th quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 10,432,549 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,375,706,000 after purchasing an additional 1,092,151 shares during the last quarter. 85.34% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Progressive

In other news, CFO Andrew J. Quigg sold 3,499 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $220.00, for a total transaction of $769,780.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 42,595 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,370,900. This represents a 7.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Susan Patricia Griffith sold 37,338 shares of the firm’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 transaction of $7,942,165.98. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 522,776 shares in the company, valued at $111,199,682.96. This represents a 6.67% decrease in their position. 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 ninety days, insiders have sold 82,224 shares of company stock valued at $17,416,438. Insiders own 0.32% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley upgraded Progressive from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $190.00 to $210.00 in a research report on Friday, July 24th. BMO Capital Markets reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Progressive in a research report on Wednesday. Evercore set a $240.00 price target on shares of Progressive in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “hold” rating and set a $228.00 price target on shares of Progressive in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of Progressive from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $226.00 to $250.00 in a report on Thursday. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Progressive presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $236.05.

Progressive Stock Down 0.4%

PGR opened at $219.45 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $127.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.01, a P/E/G ratio of 2.94 and a beta of 0.27. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $215.53 and its 200-day moving average price is $206.64. 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 Progressive Corporation has a 12 month low of $189.20 and a 12 month high of $252.82.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 15th. The insurance provider reported $5.67 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.64 by $1.03. The company had revenue of $23.61 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $19.49 billion. Progressive had a return on equity of 32.92% and a net margin of 12.84%.Progressive’s quarterly revenue was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $5.40 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that The Progressive Corporation will post 17.71 EPS for the current year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

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

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.