State of Michigan Retirement System Boosts Holdings in The Progressive Corporation $PGR

State of Michigan Retirement System raised its holdings in The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 159,388 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 500 shares during the quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System’s holdings in Progressive were worth $42,534,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Progressive by 1.2% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 54,022,956 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $15,289,037,000 after acquiring an additional 622,590 shares during the period. GQG Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Progressive by 61.4% in the first quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 8,346,133 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,362,039,000 after acquiring an additional 3,174,632 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P. raised its position in shares of Progressive by 15.2% in the first quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 8,263,157 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,338,556,000 after acquiring an additional 1,091,828 shares during the period. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC raised its position in shares of Progressive by 6.6% in the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 6,380,134 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,805,642,000 after acquiring an additional 396,567 shares during the period. Finally, Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in shares of Progressive in the first quarter worth about $1,473,180,000. 85.34% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have weighed in on PGR. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price objective on shares of Progressive from $276.00 to $245.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 27th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Progressive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, September 21st. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of Progressive from $266.00 to $246.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 16th. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Progressive from $350.00 to $351.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 16th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Progressive in a research report on Friday. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $268.90.

Progressive Stock Down 0.5%

PGR opened at $205.97 on Friday. The Progressive Corporation has a twelve month low of $205.55 and a twelve month high of $292.99. The company has a quick ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 0.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $237.11 and a 200 day moving average price of $254.01. The company has a market cap of $120.74 billion, a PE ratio of 11.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 0.32.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 15th. The insurance provider reported $4.45 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $5.04 by ($0.59). Progressive had a return on equity of 33.88% and a net margin of 12.57%.The company had revenue of $21.38 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $21.64 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $3.58 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that The Progressive Corporation will post 14.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 2nd were issued a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 2nd. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.2%. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio is presently 2.19%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Progressive news, CEO Susan Patricia Griffith sold 30,659 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $246.06, for a total value of $7,543,953.54. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 476,286 shares in the company, valued at approximately $117,194,933.16. This represents a 6.05% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Lori A. Niederst sold 8,063 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.18, for a total transaction of $2,017,201.34. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 39,040 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,767,027.20. The trade was a 17.12% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 58,500 shares of company stock worth $14,430,089 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Progressive Company 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.