29,900 Shares in The Progressive Corporation $PGR Purchased by Louisiana State Employees Retirement System

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System purchased a new stake in shares of The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm purchased 29,900 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $5,927,000.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its stake in Progressive by 15.6% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 3,392 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $813,000 after acquiring an additional 457 shares during the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Progressive during the 4th quarter valued at $269,000. Bison Wealth LLC grew its stake in shares of Progressive by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. Bison Wealth LLC now owns 2,568 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $615,000 after acquiring an additional 80 shares during the period. HUB Investment Partners LLC raised its stake in Progressive by 7.8% in the 2nd quarter. HUB Investment Partners LLC now owns 2,282 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $609,000 after acquiring an additional 166 shares during the period. Finally, Diversify Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Progressive by 12.0% during the second quarter. Diversify Wealth Management LLC now owns 15,146 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $3,681,000 after purchasing an additional 1,622 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PGR has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. BMO Capital Markets reiterated a “market perform” rating and issued a $220.00 price objective on shares of Progressive in a research note on Wednesday, May 20th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of Progressive from $222.00 to $219.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. Mizuho decreased their target price on shares of Progressive from $235.00 to $223.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 20th. Barclays set a $247.00 price target on shares of Progressive in a report on Wednesday, March 18th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on Progressive from $218.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, March 23rd. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Progressive has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $237.58.

Insider Transactions at Progressive

In other Progressive news, Director Jeffrey D. Kelly sold 7,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $216.33, for a total transaction of $1,514,310.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 22,546 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,877,376.18. The trade was a 23.69% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Steven Broz sold 1,157 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $204.76, for a total transaction of $236,907.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 27,511 shares in the company, valued at $5,633,152.36. The trade was a 4.04% 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. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 15,230 shares of company stock worth $3,165,817. Corporate insiders own 0.32% of the company’s stock.

Progressive Stock Up 4.0%

PGR opened at $224.11 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 0.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The Progressive Corporation has a 12 month low of $189.20 and a 12 month high of $267.92. The company has a market cap of $130.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.39, a P/E/G ratio of 6.54 and a beta of 0.28. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $201.86 and its 200-day moving average price is $206.89.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 15th. The insurance provider reported $4.80 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.67 by $0.13. Progressive had a net margin of 12.92% and a return on equity of 33.47%. The firm had revenue of $22.19 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $23.51 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $4.37 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that The Progressive Corporation will post 17.08 EPS for the current year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

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

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.