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Progressive Unit to Sell its Australian Insurance Portfolio

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The Progressive Corporation’s (PGR - Free Report) affiliate, Progressive Direct Insurance Company, agreed to divest its Australian insurance policies to The Hollard Insurance Company Pty Ltd. The deal, pending approvals, is anticipated to culminate in fourth-quarter 2017. The deal will help Progressive Direct Insurance to lower cost car insurance for its customers.

Moreover, the agreement will establish PD Insurance Agency Pty Ltd. (“PDIA”) as the authorized agent to maintain Progressive’s Australian policies until the completion of the transfer. PDIA is a new company that has been formed and partly owned by Hollard, Simon Lindsay – the current manager of the Progressive Australia business, and others.  Per the agreement, Hollard and PDIA will leverage Progressive brand name for car insurance in Australia over a period of thirty months.

Hollard is optimistic about this transaction as it will allow the company to build upon its business philosophy of investing in and partnering with brands, brand partners and underwriting agencies for the long term.

The Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) property and casualty (P&C) insurer has carved a niche as a successful and growing online car insurance business and the latest agreement will allow the company to grow its business further. This transaction will enable Progressive to concentrate on the Destination Era strategy, which deals in diversifying the company’s U.S. business to become the number one choice and destination for auto and other insurance. The transaction will help Progressive to offer continued quality service to its existing policyholders and also invest in boosting growth of the business.  

During its time in Australia, Progressive introduced a number of products to the local car insurance market, such as a multi-car policy offering and an online, self-service proposition.

Notably, shares of Progressive gained 12.73% year to date, significantly outperforming the Zacks categorized Property and Casualty insurance industry’s growth of 4.97%. We expect strategic initiatives like these to continue driving the stock higher in the near term. Also, the company has witnessed its 2017 and 2018 estimates increasing 9.4% and 9.5%, respectively.



Stocks to Consider

Investors interested in other stocks from the same space can consider American Financial Group, Inc. (AFG - Free Report) , Infinity Property and Casualty Corporation and Selective Insurance Group, Inc. (SIGI - Free Report) . Each of these stocks sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

American Financial offers P&C insurance products in the U.S. The company delivered positive surprises in three of the last four quarters with an average beat of 6.45%.

Infinity Property and Casualty provides personal automobile insurance products in the U.S. The company delivered positive surprises in two of the last four quarters with an average beat of 26.16%.
 
Selective Insurance provides insurance products and services in the United States. The company delivered a positive surprise in one of the last four quarters but with an average negative surprise of 4.53%.

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