The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) Shares Sold by New York State Common Retirement Fund

New York State Common Retirement Fund trimmed its holdings in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 9.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 868,712 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 95,862 shares during the quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund owned 0.15% of Progressive worth $138,368,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Giverny Capital Inc. lifted its holdings in Progressive by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter. Giverny Capital Inc. now owns 501,431 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $69,849,000 after acquiring an additional 14,022 shares during the last quarter. AIA Group Ltd lifted its stake in Progressive by 4.9% during the third quarter. AIA Group Ltd now owns 155,427 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $21,651,000 after buying an additional 7,268 shares in the last quarter. Invesco LLC lifted its stake in Progressive by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Invesco LLC now owns 3,537 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $563,000 after buying an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. Strs Ohio lifted its stake in Progressive by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Strs Ohio now owns 168,187 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $26,788,000 after buying an additional 4,983 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Affirmative Financial Network purchased a new stake in Progressive during the fourth quarter valued at about $295,000. 85.34% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Progressive news, insider Patrick K. Callahan sold 29,675 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.26, for a total transaction of $5,645,965.50. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 15,189 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,889,859.14. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Progressive news, Director Devin C. Johnson sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.33, for a total transaction of $208,330.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 7,176 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,494,976.08. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Patrick K. Callahan sold 29,675 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.26, for a total value of $5,645,965.50. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 15,189 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,889,859.14. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 39,139 shares of company stock valued at $7,458,139 over the last 90 days. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Progressive Stock Up 0.4 %

NYSE:PGR traded up $0.76 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $213.76. The stock had a trading volume of 993,520 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,599,208. The business’s 50 day moving average is $200.53 and its 200 day moving average is $176.08. The Progressive Co. has a fifty-two week low of $111.41 and a fifty-two week high of $216.21. The stock has a market cap of $125.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.80, a PEG ratio of 0.85 and a beta of 0.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 0.36 and a quick ratio of 0.31.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 12th. The insurance provider reported $3.94 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.20 by $0.74. Progressive had a return on equity of 29.43% and a net margin of 8.89%. The firm had revenue of $18.96 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.88 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.65 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 17.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that The Progressive Co. will post 11.22 earnings per share for the current year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 4th were given a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, April 3rd. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.19%. Progressive’s payout ratio is currently 4.09%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have commented on PGR. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on shares of Progressive from $241.00 to $245.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 15th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $240.00 price objective on shares of Progressive in a research note on Monday, April 1st. Bank of America reduced their price objective on shares of Progressive from $279.00 to $273.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Progressive from $228.00 to $247.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, UBS Group upped their target price on Progressive from $216.00 to $218.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $211.88.

Progressive Company Profile

The Progressive Corporation, an insurance holding company, provides personal and commercial auto, personal residential and commercial property, business related general liability, and other specialty property-casualty insurance products and related services in the United States. It operates in three segments: Personal Lines, Commercial Lines, and Property.