Cornerstone Advisors LLC Has $7.54 Million Stock Position in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Cornerstone Advisors LLC lessened its position in shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 4.7% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 36,300 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 1,800 shares during the quarter. Cornerstone Advisors LLC’s holdings in Progressive were worth $7,540,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI raised its stake in shares of Progressive by 51.1% during the second quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 12,960 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,692,000 after buying an additional 4,382 shares during the last quarter. One Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Progressive during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $541,000. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Progressive by 29.2% in the second quarter. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. now owns 10,559 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,201,000 after purchasing an additional 2,385 shares in the last quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP raised its holdings in Progressive by 32.1% in the second quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 37,204 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $7,728,000 after purchasing an additional 9,050 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of Progressive by 20.3% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,467,191 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $304,775,000 after purchasing an additional 247,144 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have weighed in on PGR. Roth Mkm lifted their target price on Progressive from $235.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 15th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Progressive from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $230.00 to $262.00 in a report on Thursday, August 15th. Hsbc Global Res raised Progressive from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 12th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on shares of Progressive from $239.00 to $237.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Progressive from $260.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday. 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 stock. According to MarketBeat, Progressive presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $254.94.

Progressive Price Performance

Shares of PGR opened at $255.46 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 0.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $229.54 and its 200 day simple moving average is $215.06. The Progressive Co. has a 1-year low of $134.34 and a 1-year high of $256.74. The company has a market cap of $149.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.15, a PEG ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.35.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 16th. The insurance provider reported $2.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $17.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17.54 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.57 EPS. Progressive’s quarterly revenue was up 21.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that The Progressive Co. will post 12.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 paid a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 3rd. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.16%. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio is currently 4.09%.

Insider Activity at Progressive

In other Progressive news, CEO Susan Patricia Griffith sold 43,371 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 517,105 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $110,665,641.05. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Progressive news, insider Steven Broz sold 3,050 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 32,453 shares in the company, valued at $6,808,963.93. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Susan Patricia Griffith sold 43,371 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $214.01, for a total value of $9,281,827.71. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 517,105 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $110,665,641.05. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 146,704 shares of company stock worth $33,367,408. Company insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

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.