The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) Shares Acquired by Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund

Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund boosted its position in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 12.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 19,548 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 2,208 shares during the quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund’s holdings in Progressive were worth $4,684,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its stake in shares of Progressive by 98.2% in the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 789 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $189,000 after buying an additional 391 shares in the last quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC raised its stake in Progressive by 90.9% during the 3rd quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 7,813 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,983,000 after purchasing an additional 3,720 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its holdings in Progressive by 7.0% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 5,067,924 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,286,036,000 after buying an additional 330,667 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its position in shares of Progressive by 2,262.4% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 433,999 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $103,990,000 after buying an additional 415,628 shares during the period. Finally, Signal Advisors Wealth LLC grew its stake in Progressive by 42.3% during the fourth quarter. Signal Advisors Wealth LLC now owns 11,889 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,849,000 after buying an additional 3,534 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PGR has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Evercore ISI upped their target price 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. Hsbc Global Res downgraded Progressive from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Raymond James raised shares of Progressive from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $305.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 26th. Barclays lowered their price target on Progressive from $277.00 to $261.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Bank of America boosted their price target on shares of Progressive from $331.00 to $335.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Progressive currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $275.71.

Progressive Stock Performance

Progressive stock opened at $262.71 on Tuesday. The Progressive Co. has a 52 week low of $186.94 and a 52 week high of $270.62. The company has a current ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. The stock has a market cap of $153.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 0.42. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $244.97 and a 200-day moving average of $247.54.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The insurance provider reported $4.08 earnings per share 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, analysts expect that The Progressive Co. will post 14.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 16th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 9th were given a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.15%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 10th. Progressive’s payout ratio is presently 2.78%.

Insider Transactions at Progressive

In other news, CEO Susan Patricia Griffith sold 11,021 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $243.29, for a total value of $2,681,299.09. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 473,736 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $115,255,231.44. This represents a 2.27 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Lori A. Niederst sold 3,855 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 39,040 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,645,222.40. This represents a 8.99 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 56,361 shares of company stock valued at $13,983,575. 0.34% of the stock is 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.