The Progressive Corporation $PGR Shares Sold by Employees Retirement System of Texas

Employees Retirement System of Texas cut its holdings in The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) by 31.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 47,920 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 22,097 shares during the period. Employees Retirement System of Texas’ holdings in Progressive were worth $10,912,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Dagco Inc. acquired a new position in Progressive in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Ameriflex Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Progressive by 106.6% in the third quarter. Ameriflex Group Inc. now owns 126 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. Entrust Financial LLC acquired a new position in Progressive in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Kingdom Financial Group LLC. acquired a new position in Progressive in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Finally, Bangor Savings Bank boosted its holdings in Progressive by 60.4% in the fourth quarter. Bangor Savings Bank now owns 154 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. 85.34% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PGR has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Weiss Ratings downgraded Progressive from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Citigroup reduced their price objective on Progressive from $300.60 to $261.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 3rd. Barclays set a $247.00 price objective on Progressive in a research note on Wednesday, March 18th. Mizuho reduced their price objective on Progressive from $235.00 to $223.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 20th. Finally, Evercore reiterated a “negative” rating on shares of Progressive in a research note on Wednesday, March 18th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $238.11.

Progressive Price Performance

Progressive stock opened at $199.05 on Wednesday. The Progressive Corporation has a 12 month low of $191.75 and a 12 month high of $289.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 0.27 and a quick ratio of 0.27. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $200.22 and a 200-day simple moving average of $210.12. The stock has a market capitalization of $116.31 billion, a PE ratio of 10.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 7.30 and a beta of 0.31.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 15th. The insurance provider reported $4.80 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.67 by $0.13. Progressive had a return on equity of 33.47% and a net margin of 12.92%.The business had revenue of $22.19 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $23.51 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $4.37 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that The Progressive Corporation will post 16.36 earnings per share for the current year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 2nd will be paid a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 2nd. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio is 2.03%.

Insider Activity at Progressive

In other news, insider Karen Bailo sold 3,517 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $212.00, for a total transaction of $745,604.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 32,348 shares in the company, valued at $6,857,776. This represents a 9.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Carl G. Joyce sold 270 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $206.50, for a total value of $55,755.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 558 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $115,227. This trade represents a 32.61% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 3,928 shares of company stock valued at $831,251 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.32% of the company’s stock.

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.