Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio Has $65.98 Million Stock Position in The Progressive Corporation $PGR

Key Points

• The Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio has reduced its stake in The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) by 1.6% during Q2, now holding 247,254 shares valued at $65.98 million.
• Progressive's stock has seen recent downgrade activity, with several analysts lowering their price targets and some adjusting ratings, resulting in an average rating of "Hold".
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.10 per share, with a payout ratio of 2.25%, scheduled for October 10th, impacting shareholders of record as of October 2nd.

Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio lowered its holdings in shares of The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR - Free Report) by 1.6% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 247,254 shares of the insurance provider's stock after selling 4,056 shares during the period. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio's holdings in Progressive were worth $65,982,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in PGR. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in shares of Progressive in the first quarter valued at about $1,473,180,000. GQG Partners LLC raised its holdings in Progressive by 61.4% during the 1st quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 8,346,133 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $2,362,039,000 after purchasing an additional 3,174,632 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in Progressive by 39,285.0% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,046,037 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $862,059,000 after purchasing an additional 3,038,303 shares during the last quarter. C WorldWide Group Holding A S grew its position in shares of Progressive by 12,110.3% during the 1st quarter. C WorldWide Group Holding A S now owns 1,248,628 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $353,374,000 after buying an additional 1,238,402 shares during the period. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. grew its position in shares of Progressive by 15.2% during the 1st quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 8,263,157 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $2,338,556,000 after buying an additional 1,091,828 shares during the period. 85.34% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PGR has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Bank of America reduced their price target on Progressive from $347.00 to $343.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, September 18th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on Progressive from $268.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a report on Thursday, September 18th. Evercore ISI lowered Progressive from an "outperform" rating to an "in-line" rating and set a $275.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. BMO Capital Markets set a $252.00 target price on Progressive in a research report on Thursday, September 18th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded Progressive from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Sunday. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Progressive presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $279.31.

Progressive Stock Performance

NYSE:PGR opened at $238.41 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 0.31 and a current ratio of 0.31. The Progressive Corporation has a 52-week low of $228.54 and a 52-week high of $292.99. The firm has a market cap of $139.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.43, a PEG ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.32. The business's fifty day moving average is $245.63 and its 200 day moving average is $262.78.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 16th. The insurance provider reported $4.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $4.43 by $0.45. The company had revenue of $20.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $20.39 billion. Progressive had a return on equity of 35.37% and a net margin of 12.66%.The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.48 EPS. Research analysts predict that The Progressive Corporation will post 14.68 EPS for the current year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 2nd will be given a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 2nd. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.2%. Progressive's dividend payout ratio is 2.25%.

Insider Activity

In other Progressive news, insider Patrick K. Callahan sold 6,420 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the sale, the insider owned 15,192 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,679,806.24. This trade represents a 29.71% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 16,664 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.24, for a total value of $4,153,335.36. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 228,024 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $56,832,701.76. This trade represents a 6.81% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 140,045 shares of company stock worth $34,635,290. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by 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.

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding PGR? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR - Free Report).

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.