Advertisement
Singapore markets close in 4 hours 4 minutes

  • Straits Times Index

    3,286.61
    -1.14 (-0.03%)
     

  • Nikkei

    38,010.70
    +382.22 (+1.02%)
     

  • Hang Seng

    17,626.75
    +342.21 (+1.98%)
     

  • FTSE 100

    8,078.86
    +38.48 (+0.48%)
     

  • Bitcoin USD

    64,275.02
    -43.46 (-0.07%)
     

  • CMC Crypto 200

    1,387.66
    +5.09 (+0.37%)
     

  • S&P 500

    5,048.42
    -23.21 (-0.46%)
     

  • Dow

    38,085.80
    -375.12 (-0.98%)
     

  • Nasdaq

    15,611.76
    -100.99 (-0.64%)
     

  • Gold

    2,347.90
    +5.40 (+0.23%)
     

  • Crude Oil

    83.87
    +0.30 (+0.36%)
     

  • 10-Yr Bond

    4.7060
    +0.0540 (+1.16%)
     

  • FTSE Bursa Malaysia

    1,573.86
    +4.61 (+0.29%)
     

  • Jakarta Composite Index

    7,115.99
    -39.31 (-0.55%)
     

  • PSE Index

    6,568.45
    -6.43 (-0.10%)
     

Progressive Refunds Premium to Members on Reduced Driving

Zacks Equity Research

The Progressive Corporation PGR has announced that it will return around $1 billion of premiums to its personal auto insurance clients. For policies in force as of Apr 30 this year, the company will refund 20% of premium payable in April. The premium amount will get credited in May. Similarly, for policies in force as of May 31, Progressive will refund 20% of premium payable in May, which will be credited in June.

The company’s reward to auto insurance customers comes amid the COVID-19 pandemic. It is evident that the United States has been badly affected by the coronavirus outbreak. Apart from resulting in numerous life losses, the pandemic has also affected the U.S. economy. Such sluggish economy tends to heap financial burdens on people. The latest move by Progressive will somewhat relieve its clients of the financial stress amid this crisis.

Moreover, this property and casualty (P&C) insurer intends to reward its policyholders as it is well-poised to gain from declining claims amid a reduction in the number of vehicles plying on roads due to the prevailing dismal period. Hence, Progressive has been witnessing fewer insured vehicles on the road. The reduction in travel and consequently auto accidents bode well for the company as lower claims are likely to aid margins in first-quarter 2020 results, which is scheduled to release on Apr 15.

As part of its “Apron Relief Program”, Progressive has notably undertaken several measures for ensuring the well-being of its customers, employees, agents and communities. In respect of personal and commercial lines policies, the company is temporarily halting cancellations or non-renewals due to the failure in premium payment by its customers till May 15.

ADVERTISEMENT

For relieving its employees of financial stress, Progressive will provide advances in its annual bonus program. It tends to cover healthcare costs for its employees as well, which include co-pays for telemedicine visits and costs related to the COVID-19 treatment. The insurer also seems to be active in protecting the interests of its agents. In the challenging period, Progressive is providing its Platinum and Priority agents with chances to earn more by improving its existing programs. The insurer’s sales team continues to back its agents virtually.

Notably, shares of this Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) insurer have gained 4.2% in a year against the industry’s decline of 12.3%. We believe that the company’s strong fundamentals are likely to retain its existing momentum in the long run.

 

 

You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Notably, three other auto insurers, namely The Allstate Corporation ALL, MetLife, Inc. MET and Chubb Limited CB, have undertaken similar steps to help their members.

Allstate announced that it will provide a Shelter-in-Place payback worth more than $600 million and refund almost 15% of its customers’ monthly premium in April and May.

The property and casualty (P&C) business of MetLife — MetLife Auto & Home — planned to reward its existing auto insurance customers by refunding 15% of monthly premiums payable by members for April and May.

Chubb unveiled plans to reward its personal auto insurance customers by creditinga reduction of 35% in the premium amount payable in April and May.

Today's Best Stocks from Zacks

Would you like to see the updated picks from our best market-beating strategies? From 2017 through 2019, while the S&P 500 gained and impressive +53.6%, five of our strategies returned +65.8%, +97.1%, +118.0%, +175.7% and even +186.7%.

This outperformance has not just been a recent phenomenon. From 2000 – 2019, while the S&P averaged +6.0% per year, our top strategies averaged up to +54.7% per year.

See their latest picks free >>


Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report
 
The Allstate Corporation (ALL) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
The Progressive Corporation (PGR) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
Chubb Limited (CB) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
MetLife, Inc. (MET) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
To read this article on Zacks.com click here.