New York State Teachers Retirement System Sells 7,175 Shares of The Progressive Corporation $PGR

New York State Teachers Retirement System lessened its holdings in shares of The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) by 1.4% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 494,220 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 7,175 shares during the quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System’s holdings in Progressive were worth $112,544,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PGR. Davis Capital Management bought a new stake in Progressive during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $25,000. Dagco Inc. bought a new position in shares of Progressive in the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Ameriflex Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Progressive by 106.6% in the third quarter. Ameriflex Group Inc. now owns 126 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. Bangor Savings Bank increased its position in shares of Progressive by 60.4% in the fourth quarter. Bangor Savings Bank now owns 154 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Riverview Trust Co raised its holdings in Progressive by 48.6% during the fourth quarter. Riverview Trust Co now owns 162 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $37,000 after acquiring an additional 53 shares in the last quarter. 85.34% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Progressive Trading Up 0.4%

NYSE:PGR opened at $201.51 on Friday. The Progressive Corporation has a 52 week low of $192.02 and a 52 week high of $289.96. The firm has a market cap of $117.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.62 and a beta of 0.34. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $203.18 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $212.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 0.35 and a current ratio of 0.33.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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. The company had revenue of $22.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $23.51 billion. Progressive had a net margin of 12.92% and a return on equity of 33.47%. Progressive’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $4.37 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that The Progressive Corporation will post 16.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 2nd were issued a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 2nd. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.2%. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 2.03%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CIO Jonathan S. Bauer sold 2,266 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $203.05, for a total transaction of $460,111.30. Following the transaction, the executive directly owned 26,250 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,330,062.50. The trade was a 7.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Carl G. Joyce sold 270 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $206.50, for a total value of $55,755.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 558 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $115,227. This represents a 32.61% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 6,933 shares of company stock valued at $1,441,564 in the last 90 days. 0.32% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have commented on PGR shares. UBS Group upped their price objective on Progressive from $218.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, March 23rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their target price on shares of Progressive from $227.00 to $210.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 7th. Barclays set a $247.00 price objective on shares of Progressive in a research note on Wednesday, March 18th. Bank of America boosted their price objective on Progressive from $295.00 to $298.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 14th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $225.00 target price on shares of Progressive in a report on Monday, February 23rd. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Progressive currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $238.39.

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.