The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) Holdings Increased by Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky

Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky lifted its stake in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 14.5% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 229,808 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 29,125 shares during the quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky’s holdings in Progressive were worth $47,733,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in PGR. Northwest Bank & Trust Co acquired a new position in Progressive during the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. WR Wealth Planners LLC grew its stake in shares of Progressive by 119.6% in the 2nd quarter. WR Wealth Planners LLC now owns 123 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 67 shares during the last quarter. Indiana Trust & Investment Management CO bought a new stake in shares of Progressive in the 1st quarter worth approximately $32,000. Hilltop National Bank lifted its stake in Progressive by 126.0% during the second quarter. Hilltop National Bank now owns 165 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 92 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Register Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Progressive during the first quarter worth approximately $35,000. 85.34% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PGR has been the topic of several research reports. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Progressive from $260.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. Evercore ISI upped their target price on Progressive from $243.00 to $246.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. HSBC raised Progressive from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $253.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of Progressive from $262.00 to $280.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Progressive from $210.00 to $239.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 11th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $257.18.

Progressive Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE PGR opened at $253.76 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 0.31 and a quick ratio of 0.31. The Progressive Co. has a one year low of $137.59 and a one year high of $260.46. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $238.56 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $219.77. The company has a market capitalization of $148.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 0.35.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 16th. The insurance provider reported $2.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.04 by $0.61. The firm had revenue of $17.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17.54 billion. Progressive had a net margin of 10.17% and a return on equity of 33.01%. The company’s revenue was up 21.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.57 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that The Progressive Co. will post 12.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 3rd will be issued a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 3rd. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.16%. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 4.09%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Philip Bleser sold 2,129 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $219.08, for a total value of $466,421.32. Following the transaction, the director now owns 974 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $213,383.92. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, Director Philip Bleser sold 2,129 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $219.08, for a total transaction of $466,421.32. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 974 shares in the company, valued at approximately $213,383.92. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Dyke Kahina Van sold 2,180 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $252.28, for a total value of $549,970.40. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 13,723 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,462,038.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 146,512 shares of company stock valued at $33,912,874 over the last 90 days. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by company 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.