The Progressive Corporation $PGR Shares Sold by Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky

Key Points

• Teachers Retirement System of Kentucky cut its stake in Progressive by 12.0%, selling 23,300 shares and leaving 171,350 shares valued at $39.02 million.
• Large institutions still dominate ownership—Vanguard increased its stake to 55,261,140 shares worth $12.58 billion, and institutional investors collectively own 85.34% of the company.
• Progressive beat EPS estimates ($4.80 vs. $4.67) but missed revenue expectations, the stock trades near $200.62, and analysts' consensus is a "Hold" with an average price target of $238.39.

Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky cut its stake in The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR - Free Report) by 12.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 171,350 shares of the insurance provider's stock after selling 23,300 shares during the quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky's holdings in Progressive were worth $39,020,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Progressive by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 55,261,140 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $12,584,067,000 after purchasing an additional 593,612 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of Progressive by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 25,808,762 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $6,373,474,000 after purchasing an additional 78,374 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors lifted its holdings in Progressive by 78.9% during the 3rd quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 13,704,197 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $3,384,082,000 after buying an additional 6,045,732 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its holdings in Progressive by 26.1% in the third quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 11,167,940 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $2,757,905,000 after purchasing an additional 2,314,864 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc boosted its holdings in shares of Progressive by 4.9% in the 3rd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 4,196,111 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $1,036,230,000 after buying an additional 197,603 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.34% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Barclays set a $247.00 target price on shares of Progressive in a research report on Wednesday, March 18th. Argus upgraded shares of Progressive to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 5th. Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of Progressive from $300.60 to $261.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and issued a $259.00 price objective on shares of Progressive in a report on Monday, March 2nd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their target price on Progressive from $227.00 to $210.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 7th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $238.39.

Progressive Trading Down 2.3%

Shares of PGR opened at $200.62 on Friday. The Progressive Corporation has a 1-year low of $192.02 and a 1-year high of $289.96. The stock has a market cap of $117.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.77 and a beta of 0.34. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $203.38 and a 200-day simple moving average of $213.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 0.33 and a quick ratio of 0.35.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 15th. The insurance provider reported $4.80 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $4.67 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $22.19 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $23.51 billion. Progressive had a net margin of 12.92% and a return on equity of 33.47%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 6.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $4.37 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that The Progressive Corporation will post 16.39 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 2nd were issued a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 2nd. Progressive's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 2.03%.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Maribel Pumarejo sold 739 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $203.25, for a total transaction of $150,201.75. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CIO Jonathan S. Bauer sold 2,266 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $203.05, for a total transaction of $460,111.30. Following the transaction, the executive owned 26,250 shares in the company, valued at $5,330,062.50. This trade represents a 7.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 6,933 shares of company stock worth $1,441,564. Company insiders own 0.32% of the company's stock.

Progressive Company Profile

Progressive Corporation is a large U.S.-based property and casualty insurer that primarily underwrites personal auto insurance along with a broad suite of related products. Its offerings include coverage for private passenger automobiles, commercial auto fleets, motorcycles, boats and recreational vehicles, as well as homeowners, renters, umbrella and other specialty P&C products. Progressive also provides claims handling, risk management and related services to individual and commercial policyholders.

The company distributes its products through a mix of direct channels—online and by phone—and an extensive independent agent network.

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