State of Wisconsin Investment Board Sells 8,232 Shares of The Progressive Corporation $PGR

State of Wisconsin Investment Board trimmed its holdings in shares of The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) by 2.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 305,930 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 8,232 shares during the period. State of Wisconsin Investment Board’s holdings in Progressive were worth $69,666,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Klingman & Associates LLC grew its holdings in Progressive by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Klingman & Associates LLC now owns 2,927 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $667,000 after acquiring an additional 48 shares in the last quarter. Revisor Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Progressive by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. Revisor Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,902 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $395,000 after buying an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Cullen Investment Group LTD. boosted its holdings in shares of Progressive by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Cullen Investment Group LTD. now owns 7,463 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,606,000 after buying an additional 52 shares in the last quarter. Pines Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Progressive by 3.9% in the 4th quarter. Pines Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,399 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $319,000 after buying an additional 52 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northwestern Mutual Investment Management Company LLC boosted its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $4,267,000 after buying an additional 52 shares in the last quarter. 85.34% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on PGR shares. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $259.00 price target on shares of Progressive in a report on Monday, March 2nd. BMO Capital Markets restated a “market perform” rating and issued a $220.00 price target on shares of Progressive in a report on Wednesday, May 20th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Progressive from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 24th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price target on shares of Progressive from $216.00 to $215.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 24th. Finally, Mizuho lowered their price target on shares of Progressive from $235.00 to $223.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 20th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Progressive currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $238.11.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Progressive news, CAO Carl G. Joyce sold 270 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $206.50, for a total value of $55,755.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 558 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $115,227. This trade represents a 32.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider John Jo Murphy sold 5,916 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $200.00, for a total transaction of $1,183,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 41,290 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,258,000. This represents a 12.53% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 7,343 shares of company stock valued at $1,470,355. Insiders own 0.32% of the company’s stock.

Progressive Stock Performance

Shares of Progressive stock opened at $204.70 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $119.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.41, a PEG ratio of 5.90 and a beta of 0.28. The Progressive Corporation has a 52 week low of $189.20 and a 52 week high of $267.92. The company has a quick ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 0.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $199.56 and a 200 day moving average price of $207.60.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 15th. The insurance provider reported $4.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.67 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $22.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $23.51 billion. Progressive had a net margin of 12.92% and a return on equity of 33.47%. Progressive’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $4.37 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that The Progressive Corporation will post 16.35 EPS for the current year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 2nd will be issued a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 2nd. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.2%. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 2.03%.

Progressive Company Profile

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.