The Progressive Corporation $PGR Position Boosted by Ilmarinen Mutual Pension Insurance Co

Ilmarinen Mutual Pension Insurance Co raised its holdings in shares of The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) by 7.3% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 184,895 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 12,500 shares during the period. Ilmarinen Mutual Pension Insurance Co’s holdings in Progressive were worth $42,104,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of PGR. Capital International Investors grew its stake in Progressive by 78.9% during the 3rd quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 13,704,197 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $3,384,082,000 after acquiring an additional 6,045,732 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors grew its stake in Progressive by 26.1% during the 3rd quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 11,167,940 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,757,905,000 after acquiring an additional 2,314,864 shares in the last quarter. Life Cycle Investment Partners Ltd purchased a new position in Progressive during the 4th quarter valued at about $353,906,000. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Progressive by 2,012.0% during the 3rd quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 767,549 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $189,546,000 after buying an additional 731,207 shares during the last quarter. Finally, M&T Bank Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Progressive by 1,363.8% during the 4th quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 706,898 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $160,975,000 after buying an additional 658,607 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Progressive

In related news, insider Karen Bailo sold 3,517 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $212.00, for a total value of $745,604.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 32,348 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,857,776. The trade was a 9.81% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Carl G. Joyce sold 270 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $206.50, for a total value of $55,755.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 558 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $115,227. This trade represents a 32.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 3,928 shares of company stock valued at $831,251. Corporate insiders own 0.32% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on PGR. Barclays set a $247.00 price target on Progressive in a report on Wednesday, March 18th. Roth Mkm set a $235.00 price target on Progressive in a report on Thursday, February 19th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on Progressive from $205.00 to $190.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 31st. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Progressive from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 24th. Finally, Argus upgraded shares of Progressive to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, March 5th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $238.11.

Progressive Stock Down 1.1%

PGR opened at $194.73 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $199.89 and a 200 day moving average price of $209.87. The Progressive Corporation has a twelve month low of $191.75 and a twelve month high of $289.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 0.27 and a current ratio of 0.27. The firm has a market cap of $113.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 7.20 and a beta of 0.31.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 15th. The insurance provider reported $4.80 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.67 by $0.13. Progressive had a return on equity of 33.47% and a net margin of 12.92%.The firm had revenue of $22.19 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $23.51 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $4.37 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.5% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that The Progressive Corporation will post 16.37 EPS for the current year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

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

About Progressive

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.