The Progressive Corporation $PGR Shares Purchased by Teacher Retirement System of Texas

Teacher Retirement System of Texas lifted its position in The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) by 20.9% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 275,072 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 47,471 shares during the quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas’ holdings in Progressive were worth $67,929,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of PGR. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Progressive during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $2,156,939,000. Alliancebernstein L.P. raised its holdings in shares of Progressive by 32.8% during the second quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 10,972,574 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,928,141,000 after purchasing an additional 2,709,417 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Progressive by 0.9% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 54,516,288 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $14,548,217,000 after purchasing an additional 493,332 shares during the period. Temasek Holdings Private Ltd purchased a new stake in Progressive in the second quarter valued at $117,057,000. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP grew its position in Progressive by 154.3% during the 2nd quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 673,646 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $179,769,000 after purchasing an additional 408,779 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Steven Broz sold 1,345 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction on Friday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $228.29, for a total value of $307,050.05. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 27,698 shares in the company, valued at $6,323,176.42. This trade represents a 4.63% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CIO Jonathan S. Bauer sold 3,105 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $204.35, for a total transaction of $634,506.75. Following the completion of the sale, the executive owned 26,249 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,363,983.15. This trade represents a 10.58% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 13,788 shares of company stock worth $3,018,961. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on PGR. Evercore ISI decreased their price objective on Progressive from $250.00 to $237.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 7th. Zacks Research lowered Progressive from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, October 10th. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Progressive from $268.00 to $261.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Progressive in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res downgraded shares of Progressive from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 16th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Progressive currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $259.39.

Progressive Stock Up 1.9%

Progressive stock opened at $206.94 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $121.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.35, a P/E/G ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.34. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $221.60 and its 200-day simple moving average is $232.61. The Progressive Corporation has a twelve month low of $198.50 and a twelve month high of $292.99. The company has a current ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 8th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 2nd were paid a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 2nd. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 2.19%.

Progressive 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.