Clarity Capital Partners LLC Acquires New Position in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Clarity Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 1,058 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $219,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Progressive by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 51,466,781 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $8,197,629,000 after buying an additional 218,809 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in Progressive by 14.1% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 21,554,503 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $3,002,542,000 after acquiring an additional 2,666,449 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its stake in shares of Progressive by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 14,935,652 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,378,951,000 after purchasing an additional 520,742 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Progressive during the fourth quarter valued at $1,078,831,000. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG raised its stake in shares of Progressive by 2.9% during the third quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 5,641,166 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $785,814,000 after purchasing an additional 156,332 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $240.00 price target on shares of Progressive in a research note on Monday, April 1st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on shares of Progressive from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Progressive from $230.00 to $232.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, June 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of Progressive from $161.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, March 25th. Finally, Roth Mkm restated a “buy” rating and set a $235.00 target price on shares of Progressive in a report on Wednesday, June 26th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Progressive presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $216.81.

Progressive Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE PGR traded up $0.50 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $210.00. 1,988,242 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,568,656. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $209.42 and its 200-day moving average price is $196.61. The Progressive Co. has a 1-year low of $111.41 and a 1-year high of $217.77. The stock has a market capitalization of $122.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.49, a PEG ratio of 0.81 and a beta of 0.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 0.32 and a quick ratio of 0.32.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last announced its earnings results on Friday, April 12th. The insurance provider reported $3.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.20 by $0.74. The business had revenue of $18.96 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.88 billion. Progressive had a net margin of 8.89% and a return on equity of 29.43%. Progressive’s revenue was up 17.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.65 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that The Progressive Co. will post 11.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 12th. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 3rd will be paid a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, July 3rd. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.19%. Progressive’s payout ratio is 4.09%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 12,457 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 312,958 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $63,978,003.94. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, insider Steven Broz sold 7,361 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $207.25, for a total transaction of $1,525,567.25. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 35,503 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,357,996.75. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 12,457 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $204.43, for a total transaction of $2,546,584.51. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 312,958 shares in the company, valued at $63,978,003.94. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 34,518 shares of company stock valued at $7,159,674 over the last ninety days. 0.34% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.