489,000 Shares in The Progressive Corporation $PGR Acquired by VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al

VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al purchased a new position in The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 489,000 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $106,822,000. Progressive accounts for 0.6% of VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al’s portfolio, making the stock its 26th biggest holding. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al owned about 0.08% of Progressive at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Bank of Nova Scotia purchased a new position in Progressive in the second quarter valued at about $76,260,000. Allstate Corp raised its position in shares of Progressive by 106.1% in the 4th quarter. Allstate Corp now owns 44,513 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $10,136,000 after purchasing an additional 22,915 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Progressive in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,836,094,000. Investment House LLC purchased a new position in shares of Progressive during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $8,447,000. Finally, Callan Family Office LLC purchased a new position in shares of Progressive during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $3,025,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the stock. William Blair restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Progressive in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Progressive from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Friday, August 28th. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “hold” rating and set a $228.00 price objective on shares of Progressive in a report on Wednesday, August 19th. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Progressive from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $190.00 to $210.00 in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Finally, Evercore set a $240.00 target price on shares of Progressive in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $236.26.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider John Murphy sold 8,124 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $212.70, for a total value of $1,727,974.80. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 41,291 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,782,595.70. This trade represents a 16.44% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Lori Niederst sold 7,339 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $209.29, for a total transaction of $1,535,979.31. Following the sale, the insider owned 42,567 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,908,847.43. This trade represents a 14.71% 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. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 113,714 shares of company stock worth $24,466,294. Company insiders own 0.32% of the company’s stock.

Progressive Price Performance

Shares of NYSE PGR opened at $218.41 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. The company has a market capitalization of $126.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 0.27. The Progressive Corporation has a twelve month low of $189.20 and a twelve month high of $249.71. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $217.56 and a 200-day simple moving average of $207.81.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 15th. The insurance provider reported $5.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.64 by $1.03. The firm had revenue of $23.61 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $19.49 billion. Progressive had a return on equity of 32.92% and a net margin of 12.84%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $5.40 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that The Progressive Corporation will post 17.74 earnings per share for the current year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 9th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 1st. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio is 2.01%.

Progressive 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.