New York State Teachers Retirement System Lowers Position in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

New York State Teachers Retirement System decreased its position in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 4.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 504,075 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 20,763 shares during the period. New York State Teachers Retirement System owned about 0.09% of Progressive worth $120,781,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vicus Capital purchased a new stake in shares of Progressive in the fourth quarter valued at about $333,000. Banque Pictet & Cie SA boosted its holdings in shares of Progressive by 7.6% in the fourth quarter. Banque Pictet & Cie SA now owns 14,950 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $3,582,000 after acquiring an additional 1,050 shares in the last quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Progressive by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 10,875 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,606,000 after acquiring an additional 144 shares in the last quarter. AMS Capital Ltda lifted its stake in shares of Progressive by 18.6% in the fourth quarter. AMS Capital Ltda now owns 47,645 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $11,416,000 after purchasing an additional 7,473 shares during the period. Finally, Compagnie Lombard Odier SCmA lifted its stake in shares of Progressive by 29.2% in the fourth quarter. Compagnie Lombard Odier SCmA now owns 246,319 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $59,021,000 after purchasing an additional 55,701 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Progressive Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE PGR opened at $262.02 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $153.49 billion, a PE ratio of 18.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 0.42. The Progressive Co. has a 12 month low of $182.23 and a 12 month high of $270.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 0.31 and a quick ratio of 0.30. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $244.79 and a 200-day simple moving average of $246.64.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The insurance provider reported $4.08 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.44 by $0.64. Progressive had a net margin of 11.25% and a return on equity of 33.79%. On average, equities analysts anticipate that The Progressive Co. will post 14.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The business 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 of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.15%. Progressive’s payout ratio is 2.78%.

Insider Activity at Progressive

In related news, Director Jeffrey D. Kelly sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total value of $2,500,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 27,741 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,935,250. The trade was a 26.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Lori A. Niederst sold 3,855 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $247.06, for a total transaction of $952,416.30. Following the sale, the insider now owns 39,040 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,645,222.40. This represents a 8.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 56,361 shares of company stock worth $13,983,575. 0.34% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently commented on PGR shares. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Progressive from $331.00 to $335.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Raymond James upgraded shares of Progressive from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $305.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 26th. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of Progressive from $277.00 to $285.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Progressive from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Progressive from $300.00 to $307.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $275.71.

Progressive 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.