New York State Teachers Retirement System Decreases Stake in The Progressive Corporation $PGR

Key Points

• The New York State Teachers Retirement System reduced its stake in The Progressive Corporation by 0.6%, holding 489,558 shares worth approximately $130.6 million after selling 2,740 shares in the second quarter.
• Wall Street analysts have recently downgraded Progressive from a "buy" to a "hold" rating, with the current consensus target price for the stock set at $279.63.
• The Progressive Corporation reported earnings per share (EPS) of $4.45 for the last quarter, missing consensus estimates by $0.59.

New York State Teachers Retirement System lowered its holdings in The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR - Free Report) by 0.6% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 489,558 shares of the insurance provider's stock after selling 2,740 shares during the quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System owned 0.08% of Progressive worth $130,643,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of PGR. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in Progressive during the first quarter valued at $1,473,180,000. GQG Partners LLC grew its holdings in Progressive by 61.4% during the first quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 8,346,133 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $2,362,039,000 after purchasing an additional 3,174,632 shares during the period. C WorldWide Group Holding A S boosted its stake in shares of Progressive by 12,110.3% in the first quarter. C WorldWide Group Holding A S now owns 1,248,628 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $353,374,000 after acquiring an additional 1,238,402 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P. boosted its stake in shares of Progressive by 15.2% in the first quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 8,263,157 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $2,338,556,000 after acquiring an additional 1,091,828 shares during the period. Finally, Axiom Investors LLC DE bought a new position in shares of Progressive in the first quarter worth about $194,557,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.34% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on PGR shares. Wall Street Zen lowered Progressive from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Sunday, September 21st. Zacks Research lowered Progressive from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, October 10th. Wolfe Research started coverage on Progressive in a research report on Monday, September 15th. They set a "peer perform" rating on the stock. Weiss Ratings restated a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Progressive in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, UBS Group reduced their price target on Progressive from $268.00 to $261.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and thirteen have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $279.63.

Progressive Trading Down 5.8%

PGR opened at $226.36 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 0.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. The company has a market capitalization of $132.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.75, a PEG ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 0.32. The stock's fifty day moving average is $244.63 and its two-hundred day moving average is $258.89. The Progressive Corporation has a 52 week low of $217.20 and a 52 week high of $292.99.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 15th. The insurance provider reported $4.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $5.04 by ($0.59). The company had revenue of $21.38 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $21.64 billion. Progressive had a net margin of 12.66% and a return on equity of 35.37%. During the same period last year, the business posted $3.58 EPS. Analysts forecast that The Progressive Corporation will post 14.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 2nd were given a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 2nd. Progressive's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 2.25%.

Insider Transactions at Progressive

In other news, insider John Jo Murphy sold 2,218 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, September 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $242.10, for a total value of $536,977.80. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 43,506 shares of the company's stock, valued at $10,532,802.60. This trade represents a 4.85% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Patrick K. Callahan sold 6,420 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $242.22, for a total value of $1,555,052.40. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 15,192 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,679,806.24. This represents a 29.71% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 130,045 shares of company stock worth $31,997,390. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.

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