State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D Sells 18,493 Shares of The Progressive Corporation $PGR

Key Points

• The State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D has reduced its stake in The Progressive Corporation by 8.5%, holding 199,599 shares after selling 18,493 shares in the 1st quarter, valued at around $56.5 million.
• Progressive reported earnings of $4.88 per share for the quarter, exceeding expectations, while revenue increased 12.1% year-over-year to $20.08 billion.
• The company's quarterly dividend of $0.10 per share is set to be paid on October 10th, representing an annual yield of 0.2%.

State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D cut its holdings in The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR - Free Report) by 8.5% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 199,599 shares of the insurance provider's stock after selling 18,493 shares during the period. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D's holdings in Progressive were worth $56,489,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Integrated Advisors Network LLC grew its holdings in Progressive by 1.0% in the first quarter. Integrated Advisors Network LLC now owns 3,808 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $1,078,000 after purchasing an additional 36 shares during the period. Pines Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Progressive by 3.0% in the first quarter. Pines Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,287 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $335,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares during the period. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Progressive by 2.0% in the first quarter. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,940 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $549,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the period. Beacon Financial Group grew its holdings in Progressive by 1.1% in the first quarter. Beacon Financial Group now owns 3,659 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $1,036,000 after purchasing an additional 39 shares during the period. Finally, Pinnacle Wealth Management Advisory Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Progressive by 2.1% in the first quarter. Pinnacle Wealth Management Advisory Group LLC now owns 1,927 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $545,000 after buying an additional 39 shares in the last quarter. 85.34% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Progressive from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, July 18th. Bank of America cut their price target on Progressive from $337.00 to $336.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. UBS Group cut their price target on Progressive from $280.00 to $268.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, July 21st. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on Progressive from $275.00 to $265.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 11th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut their price target on Progressive from $309.00 to $287.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 11th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $284.53.

Progressive Stock Performance

Progressive stock traded up $3.6030 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $250.6930. The stock had a trading volume of 2,744,518 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,252,737. The Progressive Corporation has a 1 year low of $228.54 and a 1 year high of $292.99. 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 stock's 50 day moving average is $252.66 and its two-hundred day moving average is $266.51. The stock has a market cap of $146.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 0.33.

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

Progressive Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 2nd will be given a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.2%. Progressive's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 2.25%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Andrew J. Quigg sold 3,191 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.24, for a total value of $795,324.84. Following the sale, the insider owned 37,977 shares of the company's stock, valued at $9,465,387.48. The trade was a 7.75% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Lori A. Niederst sold 8,063 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.18, for a total transaction of $2,017,201.34. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 39,040 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,767,027.20. This trade represents a 17.12% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 112,313 shares of company stock valued at $28,349,549. Corporate insiders own 0.34% of the company's stock.

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.