The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) Shares Sold by New Mexico Educational Retirement Board

New Mexico Educational Retirement Board lowered its holdings in shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 2.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 27,875 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 800 shares during the period. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board’s holdings in Progressive were worth $6,679,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. State Street Corp raised its position in Progressive by 1.3% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 24,683,807 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $6,263,763,000 after acquiring an additional 315,411 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Progressive by 13.2% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,425,792 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $3,652,235,000 after acquiring an additional 1,682,213 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its position in Progressive by 1.6% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 10,518,615 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,669,204,000 after acquiring an additional 170,618 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its position in shares of Progressive by 7.0% in the third 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 last quarter. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC raised its position in shares of Progressive by 21.6% in the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 4,749,628 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,205,266,000 after buying an additional 842,109 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on PGR. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Progressive from $302.00 to $313.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Progressive from $300.00 to $307.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Bank of America boosted their price objective 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. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on shares of Progressive from $197.00 to $237.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Finally, Raymond James raised shares of Progressive from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $305.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 26th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Progressive currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $275.71.

Progressive Price Performance

PGR opened at $262.71 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 0.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. The Progressive Co. has a 52-week low of $186.94 and a 52-week high of $270.62. The company has a 50 day moving average of $244.80 and a two-hundred day moving average of $246.75. The company has a market cap of $153.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.24, a P/E/G ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 0.42.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The insurance provider reported $4.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 earnings per share for the current year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 16th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 9th were paid a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.15%. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 2.78%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Mariann Wojtkun Marshall sold 191 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $242.10, for a total value of $46,241.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 3,982 shares in the company, valued at approximately $964,042.20. This represents a 4.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $238.66, for a total transaction of $2,386,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 282,958 shares in the company, valued at $67,530,756.28. This represents a 3.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 56,361 shares of company stock worth $13,983,575. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.