North Dakota State Investment Board Purchases Shares of 20,097 The Progressive Corporation $PGR

North Dakota State Investment Board purchased a new stake in shares of The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm purchased 20,097 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $4,576,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in PGR. Dagco Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Progressive during the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Ameriflex Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Progressive by 106.6% in the third quarter. Ameriflex Group Inc. now owns 126 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. Bangor Savings Bank grew its holdings in shares of Progressive by 60.4% in the fourth quarter. Bangor Savings Bank now owns 154 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Riverview Trust Co grew its holdings in shares of Progressive by 48.6% in the fourth quarter. Riverview Trust Co now owns 162 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Progressive by 833.3% in the fourth quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. now owns 168 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 150 shares in the last quarter. 85.34% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on PGR shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price objective on shares of Progressive from $227.00 to $210.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 7th. Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Progressive from $295.00 to $298.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 14th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of Progressive from $208.00 to $221.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 16th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Progressive from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 24th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on shares of Progressive from $216.00 to $215.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 24th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Progressive has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $238.39.

Progressive Trading Up 0.0%

NYSE PGR opened at $199.83 on Monday. 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 Progressive Corporation has a 52 week low of $191.75 and a 52 week high of $289.96. The stock has a market capitalization of $116.77 billion, a PE ratio of 10.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.77 and a beta of 0.31. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $201.02 and a two-hundred day moving average of $210.46.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 15th. The insurance provider reported $4.80 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.67 by $0.13. Progressive had a net margin of 12.92% and a return on equity of 33.47%. The company had revenue of $22.19 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $23.51 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $4.37 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 6.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that The Progressive Corporation will post 16.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The company 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 dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 2nd. Progressive’s payout ratio is 2.03%.

Insider Activity

In other Progressive news, CIO Jonathan S. Bauer sold 2,266 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $203.05, for a total transaction of $460,111.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive owned 26,250 shares in the company, valued at $5,330,062.50. The trade was a 7.95% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Carl G. Joyce sold 270 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $206.50, for a total transaction of $55,755.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 558 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $115,227. This trade represents a 32.61% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 6,933 shares of company stock worth $1,441,564. Insiders own 0.32% of the company’s stock.

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.