Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio Purchases New Holdings in The Progressive Corporation $PGR

Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio acquired a new position in The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 234,270 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $51,176,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Pines Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Progressive by 3.9% in the fourth quarter. Pines Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,399 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $319,000 after acquiring an additional 52 shares during the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Investment Management Company LLC increased its holdings in Progressive by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Northwestern Mutual Investment Management Company LLC now owns 18,736 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $4,267,000 after acquiring an additional 52 shares during the last quarter. Phillips Wealth Planners LLC increased its holdings in Progressive by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Phillips Wealth Planners LLC now owns 1,916 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $436,000 after acquiring an additional 52 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. lifted its holdings in Progressive by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. now owns 4,307 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $981,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Brown Miller Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Progressive by 2.4% during the second quarter. Brown Miller Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,365 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $517,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares during the period. 85.34% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Progressive

In other Progressive news, insider John Jo Murphy sold 8,124 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $212.70, for a total value of $1,727,974.80. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 41,291 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,782,595.70. The trade was a 16.44% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Jeffrey D. Kelly sold 7,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $216.33, for a total transaction of $1,514,310.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 22,546 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,877,376.18. The trade was a 23.69% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 83,449 shares of company stock worth $17,685,203 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.32% of the company’s stock.

Progressive Price Performance

Shares of Progressive stock opened at $217.51 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a quick ratio of 0.29 and a current ratio of 0.29. The Progressive Corporation has a 52-week low of $189.20 and a 52-week high of $249.83. The company has a fifty day moving average of $216.90 and a 200-day moving average of $207.15. The stock has a market capitalization of $126.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.96 and a beta of 0.27.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 15th. The insurance provider reported $5.67 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.64 by $1.03. Progressive had a net margin of 12.84% and a return on equity of 32.92%. The company had revenue of $23.61 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $19.49 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $5.40 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that The Progressive Corporation will post 17.74 EPS for the current year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 9th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 1st will be paid a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 1st. Progressive’s payout ratio is 2.01%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PGR has been the topic of several research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $230.00 price target on shares of Progressive in a research report on Wednesday, August 19th. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $208.00 target price on shares of Progressive in a report on Friday, May 22nd. UBS Group raised their price target on Progressive from $225.00 to $234.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday. Morgan Stanley raised Progressive from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $190.00 to $210.00 in a report on Friday, July 24th. Finally, HSBC increased their price objective on Progressive from $214.00 to $221.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, July 6th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $236.26.

About Progressive

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.