Bensler LLC Buys 2,811 Shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Bensler LLC raised its holdings in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 5.1% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 57,965 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,811 shares during the quarter. Progressive accounts for approximately 1.6% of Bensler LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 20th biggest position. Bensler LLC’s holdings in Progressive were worth $12,040,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of PGR. City State Bank lifted its stake in Progressive by 8.2% in the second quarter. City State Bank now owns 661 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $137,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. GYL Financial Synergies LLC grew its stake in shares of Progressive by 4.0% in the second quarter. GYL Financial Synergies LLC now owns 1,302 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $270,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. lifted its holdings in Progressive by 2.6% in the second quarter. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. now owns 2,047 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $425,000 after buying an additional 51 shares during the period. D.B. Root & Company LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Progressive by 4.4% during the second quarter. D.B. Root & Company LLC now owns 1,237 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $257,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Progressive by 1.2% during the first quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC now owns 4,640 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $960,000 after purchasing an additional 56 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PGR has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on shares of Progressive from $250.00 to $252.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 15th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on shares of Progressive from $256.00 to $257.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of Progressive from $256.00 to $255.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, June 10th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price target on shares of Progressive from $239.00 to $237.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Bank of America dropped their price target on shares of Progressive from $296.00 to $294.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 15th. One 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $234.41.

Progressive Stock Performance

Shares of PGR traded up $3.12 on Tuesday, reaching $245.57. 2,640,438 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,538,675. 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 stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $218.17 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $208.97. The Progressive Co. has a 52-week low of $130.27 and a 52-week high of $245.93. The stock has a market cap of $143.83 billion, a PE ratio of 25.14, a PEG ratio of 0.79 and a beta of 0.35.

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

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.10 per share. 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 currently 4.09%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Progressive news, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 12,457 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $204.43, for a total transaction of $2,546,584.51. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 312,958 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $63,978,003.94. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 12,457 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $204.43, for a total value of $2,546,584.51. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 312,958 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $63,978,003.94. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Mariann Wojtkun Marshall sold 650 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 in the company, valued at approximately $828,485.91. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 116,441 shares of company stock valued at $25,111,350. Insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

About Progressive

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.