Brandes Investment Partners LP Invests $137.15 Million in The Progressive Corporation $PGR

Brandes Investment Partners LP purchased a new position in shares of The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 602,276 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $137,153,000.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund grew its stake in shares of Progressive by 30.2% during the third quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 102,778 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $25,381,000 after acquiring an additional 23,833 shares during the last quarter. Allstate Corp boosted its position in Progressive by 106.1% in the fourth quarter. Allstate Corp now owns 44,513 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $10,136,000 after buying an additional 22,915 shares during the last quarter. Prospera Financial Services Inc boosted its position in Progressive by 36.9% in the third quarter. Prospera Financial Services Inc now owns 19,240 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $4,752,000 after buying an additional 5,184 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Progressive in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,836,094,000. Finally, Mariner LLC boosted its position in Progressive by 7.9% in the third quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 644,636 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $159,183,000 after buying an additional 47,248 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Progressive Trading Down 0.2%

Shares of NYSE:PGR opened at $199.80 on Wednesday. The Progressive Corporation has a 12-month low of $189.20 and a 12-month high of $271.00. The company has a market capitalization of $116.75 billion, a PE ratio of 10.16, a PEG ratio of 5.80 and a beta of 0.28. The business has a 50 day moving average of $198.87 and a two-hundred day moving average of $208.42. The company has a current ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 0.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last announced its quarterly 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 company had revenue of $22.19 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $23.51 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $4.37 earnings per share. Progressive’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that The Progressive Corporation will post 16.35 EPS for the current year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 2nd will be issued a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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 presently 2.03%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently commented on PGR. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on Progressive from $205.00 to $190.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 31st. Bank of America dropped their target price on Progressive from $325.00 to $320.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 20th. Roth Mkm set a $235.00 target price on Progressive in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. Argus upgraded Progressive to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered Progressive from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $238.11.

Insider Buying and Selling at Progressive

In other Progressive news, insider John Jo Murphy sold 5,916 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $200.00, for a total value of $1,183,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 41,290 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,258,000. The trade was a 12.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CAO Carl G. Joyce sold 270 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $206.50, for a total value of $55,755.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 558 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $115,227. The trade was a 32.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 7,343 shares of company stock valued at $1,470,355. 0.32% of the stock is 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.