Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS Decreases Holdings in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS cut its holdings in shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 2.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 124,561 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 2,933 shares during the quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS’s holdings in Progressive were worth $29,846,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in PGR. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Progressive during the fourth quarter worth approximately $408,416,000. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Progressive by 13.2% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,425,792 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $3,652,235,000 after buying an additional 1,682,213 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC increased its stake in shares of Progressive by 21.6% in the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 4,749,628 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,205,266,000 after buying an additional 842,109 shares during the period. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec increased its stake in shares of Progressive by 75.3% in the third quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 1,494,084 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $379,139,000 after buying an additional 641,943 shares during the period. Finally, Proficio Capital Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Progressive by 36,819.8% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 568,195 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $136,145,000 after buying an additional 566,656 shares during the period. 85.34% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CIO Jonathan S. Bauer sold 1,696 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $282.66, for a total value of $479,391.36. Following the transaction, the executive now owns 26,697 shares in the company, valued at $7,546,174.02. The trade was a 5.97 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $238.66, for a total value of $2,386,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 282,958 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $67,530,756.28. This trade represents a 3.41 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 65,495 shares of company stock worth $16,668,034 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Progressive Stock Performance

Shares of PGR stock opened at $273.19 on Thursday. The Progressive Co. has a 12 month low of $201.34 and a 12 month high of $292.99. The stock has a market cap of $160.14 billion, a PE ratio of 18.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.35. The company has a current ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $260.59 and its 200-day moving average price is $254.70.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The insurance provider reported $4.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.44 by $0.64. Progressive had a net margin of 11.25% and a return on equity of 33.79%. On average, equities analysts expect that The Progressive Co. will post 14.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be paid a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.15%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 3rd. Progressive’s payout ratio is 2.78%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently commented on PGR shares. Raymond James raised shares of Progressive from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $305.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 26th. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Progressive from $264.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on shares of Progressive from $273.00 to $267.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Roth Mkm lifted their target price on shares of Progressive from $290.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Progressive from $313.00 to $317.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Progressive currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $281.76.

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.