Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky Lowers Position in The Progressive Corporation $PGR

Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky decreased its stake in shares of The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) by 12.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 194,650 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 28,745 shares during the period. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky’s holdings in Progressive were worth $48,069,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Progressive by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 54,667,528 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $13,500,146,000 after buying an additional 151,240 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Progressive by 2.0% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 15,513,188 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $4,128,055,000 after acquiring an additional 301,371 shares during the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. increased its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 2,709,417 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Progressive in the 2nd quarter worth about $2,156,939,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Progressive by 1.1% in the 2nd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,129,069 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,101,883,000 after purchasing an additional 42,909 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently issued reports on PGR. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Progressive from $220.00 to $214.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. Barclays raised shares of Progressive from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $257.00 to $265.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of Progressive from $303.00 to $275.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 7th. Evercore set a $230.00 price target on Progressive in a report on Thursday, February 19th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on Progressive from $239.00 to $232.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $245.50.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Steven Broz sold 1,344 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.80, for a total transaction of $302,131.20. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 26,354 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,924,379.20. This trade represents a 4.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CIO Jonathan S. Bauer sold 3,105 shares of Progressive 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 approximately $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 quarter, insiders sold 9,103 shares of company stock valued at $1,883,924. Company insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Progressive Stock Down 0.1%

Shares of NYSE PGR opened at $213.43 on Tuesday. The Progressive Corporation has a 1 year low of $197.92 and a 1 year high of $292.99. The firm has a market cap of $125.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.09, a PEG ratio of 9.34 and a beta of 0.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a quick ratio of 0.29 and a current ratio of 0.38. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $210.27 and its 200-day simple moving average is $224.84.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 8th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 2nd were issued a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 2nd. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.2%. Progressive’s payout ratio is currently 2.08%.

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.