Public Sector Pension Investment Board Has $44.32 Million Stock Holdings in The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR)

Public Sector Pension Investment Board lifted its stake in shares of The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) by 3.0% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 156,599 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,616 shares during the period. Public Sector Pension Investment Board’s holdings in Progressive were worth $44,319,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Integrated Advisors Network LLC boosted its stake in shares of Progressive by 1.0% during the 1st quarter. Integrated Advisors Network LLC now owns 3,808 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,078,000 after acquiring an additional 36 shares in the last quarter. Pines Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Progressive by 3.0% during the 1st quarter. Pines Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,287 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $335,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares during the last quarter. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Progressive by 2.0% during the 1st quarter. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,940 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $549,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Beacon Financial Group lifted its position in shares of Progressive by 1.1% during the 1st quarter. Beacon Financial Group now owns 3,659 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,036,000 after purchasing an additional 39 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pinnacle Wealth Management Advisory Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Progressive by 2.1% during the 1st quarter. Pinnacle Wealth Management Advisory Group LLC now owns 1,927 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $545,000 after purchasing an additional 39 shares during the last quarter. 85.34% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on PGR shares. Barclays cut their price objective on Progressive from $297.00 to $287.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, July 7th. Wall Street Zen cut Progressive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, July 18th. Evercore ISI cut Progressive from an “outperform” rating to an “in-line” rating and set a $275.00 price target for the company. in a report on Thursday, July 17th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price target on Progressive from $290.00 to $268.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 17th. Finally, Bank of America cut their price target on Progressive from $337.00 to $336.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 17th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $286.88.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 16,664 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.24, for a total transaction of $4,153,335.36. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 228,024 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $56,832,701.76. This trade represents a 6.81% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider John Jo Murphy sold 2,218 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.24, for a total value of $552,814.32. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 47,942 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,949,064.08. This represents a 4.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 104,250 shares of company stock worth $26,332,348. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Progressive Trading Up 0.5%

Shares of PGR opened at $246.49 on Monday. The Progressive Corporation has a 1 year low of $217.91 and a 1 year high of $292.99. The company has a current ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 0.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $256.79 and a 200-day simple moving average of $266.45. The stock has a market cap of $144.49 billion, a PE ratio of 13.89, a PEG ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 0.33.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 16th. The insurance provider reported $4.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.43 by $0.45. Progressive had a return on equity of 35.37% and a net margin of 12.66%. The business had revenue of $20.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $20.39 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.48 EPS. Progressive’s quarterly revenue was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that The Progressive Corporation will post 14.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 11th. Investors of record on Friday, July 4th were issued a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a yield of 15.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 3rd. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 2.25%.

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.