Thornburg Investment Management Inc. Has $11.87 Million Position in The Progressive Corporation $PGR

Thornburg Investment Management Inc. grew its position in The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) by 858.3% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 54,336 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 48,666 shares during the period. Thornburg Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Progressive were worth $11,870,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Bank of Nova Scotia acquired a new stake in shares of Progressive in the 2nd quarter worth about $76,260,000. Allstate Corp increased its holdings in Progressive by 106.1% during the 4th quarter. Allstate Corp now owns 44,513 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $10,136,000 after purchasing an additional 22,915 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Progressive in the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,836,094,000. Investment House LLC bought a new position in shares of Progressive in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $8,447,000. Finally, Callan Family Office LLC bought a new position in shares of Progressive in the second quarter valued at approximately $3,025,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently weighed in on PGR. William Blair reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Progressive in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. Evercore set a $240.00 price objective on shares of Progressive in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised shares of Progressive from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $226.00 to $250.00 in a research report on Thursday, August 20th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Progressive in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. Finally, Bank of America reduced their target price on Progressive from $313.00 to $308.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 16th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $236.26.

Progressive Trading Up 0.6%

Shares of PGR stock opened at $218.90 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $127.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.98, a PEG ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 0.27. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $217.19 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $207.23. The Progressive Corporation has a 1 year low of $189.20 and a 1 year high of $249.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 0.29 and a quick ratio of 0.29.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last released 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. Progressive had a net margin of 12.84% and a return on equity of 32.92%. The company had revenue of $23.61 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $19.49 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $5.40 earnings per share. Progressive’s revenue was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that The Progressive Corporation will post 17.74 earnings per share for the current 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 1st. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio is currently 2.01%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Progressive

In related news, insider Steven Broz sold 1,225 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $219.40, for a total transaction of $268,765.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 31,257 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,857,785.80. This trade represents a 3.77% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Andrew J. Quigg sold 3,499 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $220.00, for a total value of $769,780.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 42,595 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,370,900. This represents a 7.59% decrease in their position. 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. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 83,449 shares of company stock valued at $17,685,203. 0.32% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.