Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. Acquires 48 Shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. boosted its stake in shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 11.8% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 455 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 48 shares during the quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc.’s holdings in Progressive were worth $95,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Progressive during the fourth quarter worth about $1,078,831,000. 1832 Asset Management L.P. lifted its stake in Progressive by 237.8% during the fourth quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,485,750 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $236,650,000 after purchasing an additional 1,045,883 shares during the last quarter. Confluence Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Progressive in the 1st quarter valued at $188,642,000. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its stake in shares of Progressive by 4,545.0% in the 1st quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 705,243 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $145,858,000 after purchasing an additional 690,060 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board boosted its stake in Progressive by 548.2% in the first quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 811,653 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $167,866,000 after buying an additional 686,433 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Progressive

In related news, CAO Mariann Wojtkun Marshall sold 650 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 17th. The shares were 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 owns 3,981 shares in the company, valued at approximately $828,485.91. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed 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 stock was sold at an average price of $208.11, for a total value of $135,271.50. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 3,981 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $828,485.91. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider John Jo Murphy sold 9,512 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 45,787 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,874,412.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 103,984 shares of company stock worth $22,564,766 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on PGR. 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. Roth Mkm increased their price objective on shares of Progressive from $235.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. Evercore ISI increased their price target on Progressive from $243.00 to $246.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on Progressive from $256.00 to $255.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, June 10th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Progressive from $210.00 to $239.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $234.41.

Progressive Price Performance

PGR traded up $1.60 during trading on Thursday, reaching $249.86. 803,355 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,527,954. The company has a market cap of $146.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.43, a PEG ratio of 0.79 and a beta of 0.35. 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 12-month low of $131.87 and a 12-month high of $250.09. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $218.86 and a 200 day simple moving average of $209.41.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last announced its quarterly 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 the consensus estimate of $17.54 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.57 EPS. Progressive’s revenue for the quarter was up 21.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that The Progressive Co. will post 12.16 EPS for the current year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 3rd will be given 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 dividend payout ratio is currently 4.09%.

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.