The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) Shares Purchased by Teacher Retirement System of Texas

Teacher Retirement System of Texas raised its holdings in shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 16.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 351,507 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 50,755 shares during the period. Teacher Retirement System of Texas owned about 0.06% of Progressive worth $84,225,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Webster Bank N. A. purchased a new stake in Progressive during the 4th quarter worth $26,000. Hager Investment Management Services LLC acquired a new position in shares of Progressive during the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. Atlantic Edge Private Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Progressive by 54.7% in the fourth quarter. Atlantic Edge Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 116 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 41 shares during the period. Valley National Advisers Inc. grew its stake in shares of Progressive by 3,000.0% in the fourth quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 124 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 120 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Atala Financial Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Progressive during the 4th quarter valued at about $32,000. 85.34% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Progressive

In other news, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $238.66, for a total transaction of $2,386,600.00. Following 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Andrew J. Quigg sold 681 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $242.10, for a total transaction of $164,870.10. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 33,612 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,137,465.20. The trade was a 1.99 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 65,495 shares of company stock worth $16,668,034. 0.34% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have issued reports on the stock. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Progressive from $264.00 to $285.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. Bank of America lowered their price target on shares of Progressive from $333.00 to $318.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 10th. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on shares of Progressive from $273.00 to $267.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, December 16th. HSBC downgraded Progressive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $267.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Raymond James raised Progressive from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $305.00 price target for the company in a report on Thursday, December 26th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Progressive currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $281.76.

Progressive Stock Down 3.6 %

Shares of Progressive stock opened at $273.19 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $160.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.97, a PEG ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.35. The Progressive Co. has a twelve month low of $201.34 and a twelve month high of $292.99. 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 business’s 50 day simple moving average is $260.59 and its 200-day simple moving average is $254.70.

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

Progressive Announces Dividend

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

About Progressive

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.