Employees Retirement System of Texas Has $8.28 Million Stock Holdings in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Employees Retirement System of Texas lifted its holdings in shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR - Free Report) by 112.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 34,541 shares of the insurance provider's stock after acquiring an additional 18,250 shares during the quarter. Employees Retirement System of Texas' holdings in Progressive were worth $8,276,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of PGR. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its position in shares of Progressive by 98.2% in the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 789 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $189,000 after purchasing an additional 391 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in Progressive by 2,262.4% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 433,999 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $103,990,000 after acquiring an additional 415,628 shares in the last quarter. Signal Advisors Wealth LLC boosted its stake in Progressive by 42.3% during the 4th quarter. Signal Advisors Wealth LLC now owns 11,889 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $2,849,000 after acquiring an additional 3,534 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its holdings in Progressive by 30.5% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,069,697 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $255,882,000 after acquiring an additional 249,958 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas bought a new stake in shares of Progressive in the 3rd quarter worth about $35,253,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.34% of the company's stock.

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Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Progressive from $275.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, March 14th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on Progressive from $273.00 to $267.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, December 16th. StockNews.com downgraded Progressive from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, April 4th. Roth Mkm raised their price objective on Progressive from $290.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Progressive from $285.00 to $297.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $283.71.

Insider Activity at Progressive

In other news, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $275.94, for a total transaction of $2,759,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 258,024 shares in the company, valued at approximately $71,199,142.56. This trade represents a 3.73 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Andrew J. Quigg sold 962 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $243.29, for a total transaction of $234,044.98. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 34,787 shares in the company, valued at $8,463,329.23. This represents a 2.69 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 56,317 shares of company stock worth $14,844,282 over the last quarter. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Progressive Stock Performance

PGR traded up $2.60 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $275.78. The company's stock had a trading volume of 3,052,599 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,657,216. The company has a current ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. The Progressive Co. has a fifty-two week low of $201.34 and a fifty-two week high of $292.99. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $271.85 and a 200 day simple moving average of $257.20. The firm has a market capitalization of $161.67 billion, a PE ratio of 19.15, a PEG ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.38.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The insurance provider reported $4.08 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.44 by $0.64. Progressive had a return on equity of 33.79% and a net margin of 11.25%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that The Progressive Co. will post 14.68 EPS for the current year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd were issued a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.15%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 3rd. Progressive's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 2.78%.

About Progressive

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.