Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Decreases Position in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lowered its stake in shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 8.4% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 16,582 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 1,512 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A.’s holdings in Progressive were worth $3,444,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. City State Bank raised its position in Progressive by 8.2% in the 2nd quarter. City State Bank now owns 661 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $137,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. D.B. Root & Company LLC lifted its stake in Progressive by 4.4% in the second quarter. D.B. Root & Company LLC now owns 1,237 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $257,000 after acquiring an additional 52 shares during the last quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC grew its holdings in Progressive by 1.2% during the 1st quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC now owns 4,640 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $960,000 after acquiring an additional 56 shares in the last quarter. Balentine LLC increased its position in shares of Progressive by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Balentine LLC now owns 22,162 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $3,530,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. Finally, EP Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Progressive by 4.1% in the 1st quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,579 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $327,000 after purchasing an additional 62 shares in the last quarter. 85.34% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Progressive Price Performance

Shares of PGR opened at $237.74 on Tuesday. 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 Progressive Co. has a fifty-two week low of $129.31 and a fifty-two week high of $238.45. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $214.70 and a 200-day simple moving average of $206.91. The company has a market capitalization of $139.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.35.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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. The company had revenue of $17.90 billion during 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 firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 21.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.57 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that The Progressive Co. will post 12.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 3rd will be paid a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 3rd. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.17%. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio is currently 4.09%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Mariann Wojtkun Marshall sold 650 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.11, for a total value of $135,271.50. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 3,981 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $828,485.91. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, CAO Mariann Wojtkun Marshall sold 650 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 3,981 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $828,485.91. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider John Jo Murphy sold 9,512 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $237.50, for a total value of $2,259,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 45,787 shares in the company, valued at $10,874,412.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 110,319 shares of company stock worth $23,671,517. 0.34% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PGR has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Progressive from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $230.00 to $262.00 in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on Progressive from $239.00 to $237.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on Progressive from $256.00 to $257.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Citigroup lowered their price target on Progressive from $232.00 to $225.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Progressive from $210.00 to $239.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $234.41.

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.