Chicago Capital LLC Decreases Stock Position in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Chicago Capital LLC reduced its stake in shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 16.1% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 406,593 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 77,978 shares during the period. Progressive makes up 2.5% of Chicago Capital LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 9th biggest position. Chicago Capital LLC’s holdings in Progressive were worth $84,453,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 285,070 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its stake 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 worth $2,378,951,000 after purchasing an additional 520,742 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Progressive during the fourth quarter valued at about $1,078,831,000. Capital International Investors grew its stake in shares of Progressive by 15.7% during 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 buying an additional 670,006 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FIL Ltd increased its holdings in shares of Progressive by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 4,885,731 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $778,199,000 after buying an additional 19,724 shares during the period. 85.34% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Progressive

In other Progressive news, CAO Mariann Wojtkun Marshall sold 650 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, June 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.11, for a total transaction of $135,271.50. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 3,981 shares in the company, valued at approximately $828,485.91. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, CAO Mariann Wojtkun Marshall sold 650 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.11, for a total value of $135,271.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 3,981 shares in the company, valued at $828,485.91. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Steven Broz sold 3,050 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $209.81, for a total transaction of $639,920.50. Following the sale, the insider now owns 32,453 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,808,963.93. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 147,354 shares of company stock valued at $33,502,680. 0.34% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Progressive Stock Down 0.3 %

NYSE PGR traded down $0.85 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $248.69. 2,429,465 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,529,093. The firm has a market cap of $145.65 billion, a PE ratio of 25.46, a PEG ratio of 0.83 and a beta of 0.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 0.31 and a quick ratio of 0.31. The Progressive Co. has a 52-week low of $134.34 and a 52-week high of $254.83. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $225.47 and a 200 day simple moving average of $212.67.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 16th. The insurance provider reported $2.65 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.04 by $0.61. The firm had revenue of $17.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17.54 billion. Progressive had a return on equity of 33.01% and a net margin of 10.17%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 21.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.57 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that The Progressive Co. will post 12.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Citigroup reduced their price target on Progressive from $232.00 to $225.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Progressive from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $230.00 to $262.00 in a report on Thursday, August 15th. HSBC raised shares of Progressive from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $253.00 price target on the stock in a report on Monday, August 12th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on shares of Progressive from $256.00 to $257.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Progressive from $210.00 to $239.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 11th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $252.24.

Progressive 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.