Retirement Systems of Alabama Sells 1,973 Shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Retirement Systems of Alabama cut its position in shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 1.5% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 127,227 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 1,973 shares during the period. Retirement Systems of Alabama’s holdings in Progressive were worth $32,285,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Progressive by 13.2% in 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 purchasing an additional 1,682,213 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC raised its position in shares of Progressive by 21.6% during the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec grew its position in Progressive by 75.3% in the third quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 1,494,084 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $379,139,000 after acquiring an additional 641,943 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Progressive by 29,701.6% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 596,331 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $151,325,000 after acquiring an additional 594,330 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC raised its position in Progressive by 206.8% during the third quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 875,660 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $222,207,000 after purchasing an additional 590,235 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Progressive Trading Up 3.7 %

Shares of NYSE:PGR opened at $251.86 on Friday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $253.91 and a 200-day moving average price of $236.56. The stock has a market cap of $147.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.30, a PEG ratio of 0.68 and a beta of 0.38. The Progressive Co. has a 52-week low of $149.14 and a 52-week high of $270.62. The company has a quick ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 0.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 15th. The insurance provider reported $3.58 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.40 by $0.18. The business had revenue of $19.43 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $18.95 billion. Progressive had a net margin of 11.27% and a return on equity of 33.10%. Equities analysts predict that The Progressive Co. will post 13.2 EPS for the current year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 16th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 9th will be issued a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, January 9th. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.16%. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 2.91%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Progressive news, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $268.09, for a total value of $2,680,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 292,958 shares in the company, valued at approximately $78,539,110.22. This represents a 3.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Steven Broz sold 2,981 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $251.15, for a total value of $748,678.15. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 26,353 shares in the company, valued at $6,618,555.95. This represents a 10.16 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 25,839 shares of company stock valued at $6,718,965 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently weighed in on PGR. TD Cowen increased their price target on Progressive from $197.00 to $237.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 8th. Hsbc Global Res downgraded shares of Progressive from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Progressive from $281.00 to $282.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Roth Mkm increased their price objective on shares of Progressive from $270.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on shares of Progressive from $257.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $270.69.

About Progressive

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.