Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. Has $454.01 Million Stake in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. cut its stake in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 2,185,803 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 39,427 shares during the period. Progressive accounts for approximately 3.4% of Brown Brothers Harriman & Co.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 9th largest holding. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. owned 0.37% of Progressive worth $454,013,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Plato Investment Management Ltd raised its holdings in shares of Progressive by 13.7% during the second quarter. Plato Investment Management Ltd now owns 23,908 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $4,966,000 after buying an additional 2,881 shares during the last quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Progressive during the 2nd quarter worth $230,000. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in Progressive by 18.6% during the 2nd quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 99,513 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $20,670,000 after acquiring an additional 15,592 shares during the period. William Blair Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Progressive in the second quarter worth $23,413,000. Finally, Thoroughbred Financial Services LLC increased its holdings in shares of Progressive by 206.8% during the second quarter. Thoroughbred Financial Services LLC now owns 7,778 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,615,000 after purchasing an additional 5,243 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on shares of Progressive from $239.00 to $237.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Progressive from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 12th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Progressive from $281.00 to $282.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Citigroup decreased their price target on Progressive from $232.00 to $225.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Progressive from $210.00 to $239.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 11th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Progressive currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $252.29.

Progressive Stock Up 2.4 %

PGR stock opened at $255.46 on Monday. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $149.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.15, a P/E/G ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.35. The Progressive Co. has a 52-week low of $134.34 and a 52-week high of $256.74. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $229.54 and its 200-day simple moving average is $215.06.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, July 16th. The insurance provider reported $2.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.04 by $0.61. Progressive had a net margin of 10.17% and a return on equity of 33.01%. The company 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 business earned $0.57 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 21.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that The Progressive Co. will post 12.29 EPS for the current year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

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

Insider Transactions at Progressive

In related news, CEO Susan Patricia Griffith sold 43,371 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $214.01, for a total transaction of $9,281,827.71. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 517,105 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $110,665,641.05. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, insider Steven Broz sold 3,050 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $209.81, for a total value of $639,920.50. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 32,453 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,808,963.93. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Susan Patricia Griffith sold 43,371 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $214.01, for a total transaction of $9,281,827.71. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 517,105 shares in the company, valued at approximately $110,665,641.05. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 146,704 shares of company stock valued at $33,367,408 over the last three months. 0.34% of the stock is owned by corporate 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.