Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Has $7.55 Million Position in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System decreased its position in shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 4.5% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 31,500 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 1,500 shares during the period. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System’s holdings in Progressive were worth $7,548,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Webster Bank N. A. bought a new stake in Progressive during the fourth quarter worth $26,000. Hager Investment Management Services LLC acquired a new position in shares of Progressive during the 4th quarter worth $28,000. Atlantic Edge Private Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Progressive by 54.7% during the 4th 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 last quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. boosted its stake in 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, DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. grew its position in Progressive by 114.1% in the third quarter. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. now owns 137 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 73 shares during the last quarter. 85.34% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently commented on PGR shares. Hsbc Global Res cut shares of Progressive from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Progressive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. 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. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Progressive from $300.00 to $307.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Progressive from $251.00 to $256.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $275.71.

Progressive Price Performance

Progressive stock opened at $257.82 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $244.96 and its 200 day moving average is $246.28. The Progressive Co. has a one year low of $180.72 and a one year high of $270.62. The firm has a market cap of $151.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.90, a P/E/G ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 0.31 and a quick ratio of 0.30.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The insurance provider reported $4.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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%. As a group, research analysts expect that The Progressive Co. will post 14.44 EPS for the current year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 16th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 9th were issued a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.16%. Progressive’s payout ratio is 2.78%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Progressive

In related news, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $268.09, for a total transaction of $2,680,900.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 292,958 shares in the company, valued at $78,539,110.22. The trade was a 3.30 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Andrew J. Quigg sold 681 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 owns 33,612 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,137,465.20. The trade was a 1.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 56,361 shares of company stock valued at $13,983,575. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.