Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Sells 13,368 Shares of The Progressive Corporation $PGR

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund reduced its stake in The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) by 13.0% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 89,410 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 13,368 shares during the period. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in Progressive were worth $20,360,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in Progressive during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,836,094,000. Capital International Investors boosted its stake in shares of Progressive by 78.9% in the 3rd quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 13,704,197 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $3,384,082,000 after purchasing an additional 6,045,732 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its stake in shares of Progressive by 26.1% in the 3rd quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 11,167,940 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,757,905,000 after purchasing an additional 2,314,864 shares during the last quarter. Life Cycle Investment Partners Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Progressive during the fourth quarter worth $353,906,000. Finally, Eurizon Capital SGR S.p.A. bought a new position in Progressive during the fourth quarter worth $185,761,000. 85.34% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Progressive Price Performance

PGR stock opened at $204.12 on Thursday. 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 company’s 50-day moving average is $198.93 and its 200-day moving average is $208.26. The stock has a market capitalization of $119.27 billion, a PE ratio of 10.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.80 and a beta of 0.28. The Progressive Corporation has a 1 year low of $189.20 and a 1 year high of $269.84.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 15th. The insurance provider reported $4.80 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 analyst estimates of $23.51 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $4.37 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 6.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that The Progressive Corporation will post 16.35 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently issued reports on PGR. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Progressive from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 24th. BMO Capital Markets reissued a “market perform” rating and issued a $220.00 price objective on shares of Progressive in a research report on Wednesday, May 20th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on Progressive from $216.00 to $215.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 24th. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on Progressive from $205.00 to $190.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 31st. Finally, Barclays set a $247.00 price target on Progressive in a research note on Wednesday, March 18th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $238.11.

Insider Transactions at Progressive

In other news, insider Steven Broz sold 1,157 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $200.00, for a total transaction of $231,400.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 28,668 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,733,600. This represents a 3.88% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider John Jo Murphy sold 5,916 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $200.00, for a total value of $1,183,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 41,290 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,258,000. This represents a 12.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 7,343 shares of company stock valued at $1,470,355 over the last ninety days. 0.32% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.