Artisan Partners Limited Partnership Has $1.06 Billion Stock Holdings in The Progressive Corporation $PGR

Artisan Partners Limited Partnership grew its holdings in The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) by 16.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 4,672,994 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 657,802 shares during the quarter. Progressive makes up 1.6% of Artisan Partners Limited Partnership’s portfolio, making the stock its 17th largest position. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership’s holdings in Progressive were worth $1,064,134,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in PGR. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Progressive in the fourth quarter valued at $1,836,094,000. Capital International Investors boosted its holdings in Progressive by 78.9% in the third quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 13,704,197 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $3,384,082,000 after acquiring an additional 6,045,732 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its holdings in Progressive by 26.1% in the third quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 11,167,940 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,757,905,000 after acquiring an additional 2,314,864 shares during the last quarter. Life Cycle Investment Partners Ltd bought a new position in Progressive in the fourth quarter valued at about $353,906,000. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its holdings in Progressive by 193.2% in the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 2,206,742 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $502,519,000 after acquiring an additional 1,454,111 shares during the last quarter. 85.34% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider John Jo Murphy sold 5,916 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 5th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at $8,258,000. The trade was a 12.53% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Steven Broz sold 1,157 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $200.00, for a total value of $231,400.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 28,668 shares in the company, valued at $5,733,600. This trade represents a 3.88% 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. Insiders have sold 7,343 shares of company stock worth $1,470,355 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.32% of the company’s stock.

Progressive Stock Up 0.6%

NYSE:PGR opened at $204.70 on Wednesday. The Progressive Corporation has a 1 year low of $189.20 and a 1 year high of $267.92. 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 stock has a market cap of $119.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.41, a PEG ratio of 5.90 and a beta of 0.28. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $199.56 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $207.60.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 15th. The insurance provider reported $4.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.67 by $0.13. Progressive had a return on equity of 33.47% and a net margin of 12.92%.The firm had revenue of $22.19 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $23.51 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $4.37 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 6.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that The Progressive Corporation will post 16.35 earnings per share for the current year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PGR has been the topic of several recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Progressive from $218.00 to $222.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 21st. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on Progressive from $205.00 to $190.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 31st. Roth Mkm set a $235.00 price target on Progressive in a report on Thursday, February 19th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price target on Progressive from $216.00 to $215.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 24th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded Progressive from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 24th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Progressive presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $238.11.

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.