Marathon Asset Management Ltd Lowers Position in The Progressive Corporation $PGR

Marathon Asset Management Ltd trimmed its position in shares of The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) by 11.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 146,891 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 18,547 shares during the quarter. Marathon Asset Management Ltd’s holdings in Progressive were worth $36,274,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Progressive by 0.9% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 54,516,288 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $14,548,217,000 after purchasing an additional 493,332 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Progressive by 2.0% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 15,513,188 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $4,128,055,000 after buying an additional 301,371 shares in the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. grew its position in shares of Progressive by 32.8% in the 2nd quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 10,972,574 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,928,141,000 after buying an additional 2,709,417 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Progressive in the 2nd quarter worth about $2,156,939,000. Finally, UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC increased its stake in shares of Progressive by 6.6% in the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 6,380,134 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,805,642,000 after acquiring an additional 396,567 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on PGR shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on shares of Progressive from $246.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 18th. Barclays cut their price target on Progressive from $271.00 to $257.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, October 20th. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Progressive in a research report on Wednesday, December 17th. BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on Progressive from $256.00 to $253.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 18th. Finally, Wolfe Research assumed coverage on Progressive in a research report on Monday, September 15th. They issued a “peer perform” rating for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating, thirteen have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Progressive presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $264.98.

Progressive Stock Down 0.2%

Progressive stock opened at $227.15 on Monday. The Progressive Corporation has a 12 month low of $199.90 and a 12 month high of $292.99. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $222.51 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $238.98. The company has a current ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. The firm has a market cap of $133.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.46, a PEG ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 0.36.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 15th. The insurance provider reported $4.45 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $5.04 by ($0.59). Progressive had a net margin of 12.57% and a return on equity of 33.88%. The business had revenue of $21.38 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $21.64 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $3.58 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that The Progressive Corporation will post 14.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 8th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 2nd will be paid a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 2nd. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.2%. Progressive’s payout ratio is currently 2.19%.

Insider Activity at Progressive

In other news, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 5,000 shares of the 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 $50,956,523.52. This represents a 2.19% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Steven Broz sold 1,345 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction on Friday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $228.29, for a total value of $307,050.05. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 27,698 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,323,176.42. The trade was a 4.63% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 9,034 shares of company stock valued at $2,047,481 over the last three months. 0.33% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.