New York State Teachers Retirement System Boosts Position in The Progressive Corporation $PGR

New York State Teachers Retirement System raised its position in The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) by 2.4% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 501,395 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 11,837 shares during the quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System’s holdings in Progressive were worth $123,819,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Davis Capital Management acquired a new position in Progressive during the third quarter worth about $25,000. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp purchased a new position in shares of Progressive during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $33,000. Westside Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Progressive by 900.0% during the 2nd quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. now owns 130 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 117 shares during the last quarter. Howard Hughes Medical Institute purchased a new stake in Progressive in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Finally, Richardson Financial Services Inc. grew its holdings in Progressive by 1,885.7% during the 2nd quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 139 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 132 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Progressive Price Performance

Progressive stock opened at $214.97 on Friday. The Progressive Corporation has a 1 year low of $199.90 and a 1 year high of $292.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a quick ratio of 0.29 and a current ratio of 0.29. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $223.26 and a 200 day moving average price of $235.96. The company has a market cap of $126.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.79, a PEG ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 0.34.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 15th. The insurance provider reported $4.45 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.04 by ($0.59). Progressive had a net margin of 12.57% and a return on equity of 33.88%. The company had revenue of $21.38 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $21.64 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $3.58 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that The Progressive Corporation will post 14.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 8th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 2nd were given a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 2nd. Progressive’s payout ratio is 2.19%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on Progressive from $250.00 to $252.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 6th. Citigroup reduced their target price on shares of Progressive from $301.38 to $300.60 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, December 15th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on shares of Progressive from $256.00 to $253.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 18th. Mizuho assumed coverage on shares of Progressive in a research note on Monday, December 15th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $242.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Barclays upgraded shares of Progressive from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $257.00 to $265.00 in a research report on Thursday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have assigned a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Progressive presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $260.74.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $228.48, for a total value of $1,142,400.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 223,024 shares in the company, valued at $50,956,523.52. This trade represents a 2.19% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Steven Broz sold 1,344 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.80, for a total value of $302,131.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 26,354 shares in the company, valued at $5,924,379.20. This represents a 4.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 9,034 shares of company stock valued at $2,047,481 over the last 90 days. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Progressive Company Profile

Progressive Corporation is a large U.S.-based property and casualty insurer that primarily underwrites personal auto insurance along with a broad suite of related products. Its offerings include coverage for private passenger automobiles, commercial auto fleets, motorcycles, boats and recreational vehicles, as well as homeowners, renters, umbrella and other specialty P&C products. Progressive also provides claims handling, risk management and related services to individual and commercial policyholders.

The company distributes its products through a mix of direct channels—online and by phone—and an extensive independent agent network.