The Progressive Corporation $PGR Holdings Boosted by Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund

Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund raised its stake in The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) by 0.6% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 50,658 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 300 shares during the quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund’s holdings in Progressive were worth $13,519,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Progressive by 1.2% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 54,022,956 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $15,289,037,000 after purchasing an additional 622,590 shares during the last quarter. GQG Partners LLC grew its stake in Progressive by 61.4% during the 1st quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 8,346,133 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,362,039,000 after buying an additional 3,174,632 shares during the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. increased its position in Progressive by 15.2% in the first quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 8,263,157 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,338,556,000 after buying an additional 1,091,828 shares during the period. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC lifted its stake in Progressive by 6.6% in the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 6,380,134 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,805,642,000 after buying an additional 396,567 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in shares of Progressive during the first quarter valued at $1,473,180,000. 85.34% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Progressive Stock Performance

PGR stock opened at $240.18 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 0.31 and a current ratio of 0.31. The stock has a market cap of $140.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.53, a P/E/G ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 0.32. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $245.20 and a 200 day simple moving average of $259.54. The Progressive Corporation has a 52 week low of $228.54 and a 52 week high of $292.99.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 16th. The insurance provider reported $4.88 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.43 by $0.45. Progressive had a net margin of 12.66% and a return on equity of 35.37%. The firm had revenue of $20.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $20.39 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.48 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that The Progressive Corporation will post 14.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 2nd were issued a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 2nd. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 2.25%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PGR has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Progressive from $301.00 to $303.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Progressive from $265.00 to $266.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Evercore ISI cut their price target on Progressive from $275.00 to $273.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 1st. UBS Group decreased their price objective on Progressive from $268.00 to $261.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their target price on Progressive from $267.00 to $265.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, September 22nd. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $279.63.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Patrick K. Callahan sold 6,420 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $242.22, for a total transaction of $1,555,052.40. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 15,192 shares in the company, valued at $3,679,806.24. The trade was a 29.71% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider John Jo Murphy sold 2,218 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $242.10, for a total value of $536,977.80. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 43,506 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,532,802.60. The trade was a 4.85% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 130,045 shares of company stock valued at $31,997,390. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.