Clearbridge Investments LLC Grows Stake in The Progressive Corporation $PGR

Clearbridge Investments LLC lifted its holdings in The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) by 2.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 290,629 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 7,539 shares during the period. Clearbridge Investments LLC’s holdings in Progressive were worth $66,182,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. SouthState Bank Corp increased its holdings in Progressive by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. SouthState Bank Corp now owns 10,334 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,353,000 after buying an additional 111 shares during the period. Syon Capital LLC increased its holdings in Progressive by 5.7% during the fourth quarter. Syon Capital LLC now owns 12,395 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,823,000 after buying an additional 672 shares during the period. ING Groep NV increased its holdings in Progressive by 2,743.1% during the fourth quarter. ING Groep NV now owns 27,066 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $6,163,000 after buying an additional 26,114 shares during the period. Capital International Inc. CA increased its holdings in Progressive by 5.7% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Inc. CA now owns 191,837 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $43,685,000 after buying an additional 10,314 shares during the period. Finally, Capital International Investors increased its holdings in Progressive by 8.9% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 14,921,724 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $3,398,123,000 after buying an additional 1,217,527 shares during the period. 85.34% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on PGR shares. BMO Capital Markets reissued a “market perform” rating and set a $220.00 price objective on shares of Progressive in a report on Wednesday, May 20th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of Progressive from $205.00 to $190.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 31st. Argus raised shares of Progressive to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, March 5th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Progressive in a report on Friday, May 22nd. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Progressive from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $238.11.

Insider Activity at Progressive

In related news, CAO Carl G. Joyce sold 270 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $206.50, for a total transaction of $55,755.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 558 shares in the company, valued at $115,227. The trade was a 32.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider John Jo Murphy sold 5,916 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $200.00, for a total transaction of $1,183,200.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 41,290 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,258,000. This represents a 12.53% 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. Insiders sold 7,343 shares of company stock worth $1,470,355 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.32% of the company’s stock.

Progressive Trading Down 1.8%

NYSE:PGR opened at $200.33 on Tuesday. The Progressive Corporation has a 12 month low of $189.20 and a 12 month high of $278.71. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $198.84 and a 200-day simple moving average of $208.58. The company has a current ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 0.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The company has a market capitalization of $117.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.18, a PEG ratio of 5.91 and a beta of 0.28.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 15th. The insurance provider reported $4.80 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.67 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $22.19 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $23.51 billion. Progressive had a net margin of 12.92% and a return on equity of 33.47%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $4.37 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that The Progressive Corporation will post 16.35 earnings per share for the current year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 2nd will be given a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 2nd. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.2%. Progressive’s payout ratio is currently 2.03%.

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.