Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. Increases Position in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. grew its holdings in shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 11.8% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 455 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 48 shares during the quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc.’s holdings in Progressive were worth $95,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Progressive by 0.6% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 51,751,851 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $10,703,318,000 after buying an additional 285,070 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its holdings in Progressive by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 14,935,652 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,378,951,000 after purchasing an additional 520,742 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Progressive during the 4th quarter worth about $1,078,831,000. Capital International Investors raised its holdings in Progressive by 15.7% in the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 4,925,019 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,018,592,000 after acquiring an additional 670,006 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FIL Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of Progressive by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 4,885,731 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $778,199,000 after buying an additional 19,724 shares during the period. 85.34% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Progressive from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $230.00 to $262.00 in a research report on Thursday, August 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Progressive from $210.00 to $239.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 11th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of Progressive from $256.00 to $255.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, June 10th. HSBC raised shares of Progressive from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $253.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Monday, August 12th. Finally, Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of Progressive from $232.00 to $225.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Progressive has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $234.41.

Progressive Stock Up 0.6 %

PGR traded up $1.60 on Thursday, hitting $249.86. 803,355 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,527,954. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 0.31 and a current ratio of 0.31. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $218.86 and its 200-day moving average is $209.41. The company has a market cap of $146.34 billion, a PE ratio of 25.43, a PEG ratio of 0.79 and a beta of 0.35. The Progressive Co. has a 12 month low of $131.87 and a 12 month high of $250.09.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 16th. The insurance provider reported $2.65 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.04 by $0.61. Progressive had a net margin of 10.17% and a return on equity of 33.01%. The business had revenue of $17.90 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.54 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.57 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 21.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that The Progressive Co. will post 12.16 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 3rd will be issued a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.16%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 3rd. Progressive’s payout ratio is presently 4.09%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Progressive

In other Progressive news, insider Steven Broz sold 6,122 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $235.19, for a total value of $1,439,833.18. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 32,316 shares in the company, valued at $7,600,400.04. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, insider Andrew J. Quigg sold 3,975 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $214.01, for a total value of $850,689.75. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 32,780 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,015,247.80. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Steven Broz sold 6,122 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $235.19, for a total value of $1,439,833.18. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 32,316 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,600,400.04. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 103,984 shares of company stock valued at $22,564,766. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Progressive Company Profile

The Progressive Corporation, an insurance holding company, provides personal and commercial auto, personal residential and commercial property, business related general liability, and other specialty property-casualty insurance products and related services in the United States. It operates in three segments: Personal Lines, Commercial Lines, and Property.