The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) Shares Acquired by Ilmarinen Mutual Pension Insurance Co

Ilmarinen Mutual Pension Insurance Co increased its position in shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 24.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 186,595 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 36,500 shares during the period. Ilmarinen Mutual Pension Insurance Co’s holdings in Progressive were worth $44,710,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Progressive by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 53,400,366 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $12,795,262,000 after purchasing an additional 583,376 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Progressive by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,615,430 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $3,498,363,000 after buying an additional 189,638 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Progressive in the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,843,045,000. GQG Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Progressive by 67.6% in the fourth quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 5,171,501 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,239,143,000 after buying an additional 2,085,833 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Progressive by 3.0% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,951,899 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $946,915,000 after acquiring an additional 115,681 shares during the last quarter. 85.34% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Progressive from $300.00 to $307.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Roth Mkm boosted their price objective on Progressive from $290.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Progressive from $251.00 to $256.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Progressive from $313.00 to $317.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Bank of America downgraded shares of Progressive from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $300.00 to $287.00 in a research report on Friday. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $280.29.

Progressive Stock Performance

Shares of PGR stock opened at $257.27 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $150.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.87, a PEG ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 0.31 and a quick ratio of 0.30. The Progressive Co. has a fifty-two week low of $201.34 and a fifty-two week high of $292.99. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $269.14 and its two-hundred day moving average is $256.74.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The insurance provider reported $4.08 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.44 by $0.64. Progressive had a net margin of 11.25% and a return on equity of 33.79%. Analysts predict that The Progressive Co. will post 14.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.16%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 3rd. Progressive’s payout ratio is presently 2.78%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Progressive news, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $275.94, for a total transaction of $2,759,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 258,024 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $71,199,142.56. This represents a 3.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Carl G. Joyce sold 360 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $276.17, for a total transaction of $99,421.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 655 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $180,891.35. The trade was a 35.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 56,317 shares of company stock worth $14,844,282. Corporate insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Progressive 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.