Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Decreases Stake in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund cut its holdings in shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 32.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 56,054 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 26,458 shares during the period. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in Progressive were worth $8,928,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Arkadios Wealth Advisors bought a new stake in shares of Progressive during the third quarter valued at approximately $228,000. Park Place Capital Corp boosted its position in shares of Progressive by 45.3% during the third quarter. Park Place Capital Corp now owns 1,665 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $232,000 after purchasing an additional 519 shares in the last quarter. Meridian Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Progressive by 102.1% during the third quarter. Meridian Wealth Management LLC now owns 15,738 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,192,000 after purchasing an additional 7,949 shares in the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Progressive by 5.7% during the third quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,933 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $269,000 after purchasing an additional 104 shares in the last quarter. Finally, RDA Financial Network boosted its holdings in Progressive by 27.6% in the third quarter. RDA Financial Network now owns 2,250 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $313,000 after acquiring an additional 486 shares in the last quarter. 85.34% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PGR has been the topic of several analyst reports. TD Cowen started coverage on Progressive in a report on Wednesday, January 10th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $174.00 target price on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Progressive from $232.00 to $238.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Citigroup upped their price target on Progressive from $202.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, April 15th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on Progressive from $161.00 to $216.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, March 25th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Progressive from $228.00 to $247.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Progressive has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $211.88.

Insider Activity at Progressive

In related news, insider Patrick K. Callahan sold 29,675 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.26, for a total transaction of $5,645,965.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 15,189 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,889,859.14. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In related news, insider Patrick K. Callahan sold 29,675 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.26, for a total transaction of $5,645,965.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 15,189 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,889,859.14. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Devin C. Johnson sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.33, for a total value of $208,330.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 7,176 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,494,976.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 39,139 shares of company stock valued at $7,458,139. Insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Progressive Stock Performance

NYSE:PGR opened at $214.02 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The Progressive Co. has a 12-month low of $111.41 and a 12-month high of $216.21. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $201.17 and a 200 day moving average price of $176.58. The stock has a market capitalization of $125.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.91, a P/E/G ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 0.35.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last released its earnings results on Friday, April 12th. The insurance provider reported $3.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.20 by $0.74. Progressive had a return on equity of 29.43% and a net margin of 8.89%. The firm had revenue of $18.96 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.88 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.65 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 17.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that The Progressive Co. will post 11.22 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 4th were paid a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.19%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, April 3rd. Progressive’s payout ratio is presently 4.09%.

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.