Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund Purchases 900 Shares of The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR)

Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund increased its position in The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) by 0.6% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 148,570 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 900 shares during the quarter. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund’s holdings in Progressive were worth $42,047,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of PGR. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in Progressive during the 1st quarter valued at $1,473,180,000. GQG Partners LLC boosted its position in Progressive by 61.4% during the 1st quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 8,346,133 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,362,039,000 after acquiring an additional 3,174,632 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in Progressive by 39,285.0% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,046,037 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $862,059,000 after acquiring an additional 3,038,303 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its position in Progressive by 34.3% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 6,058,187 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,451,602,000 after acquiring an additional 1,547,677 shares in the last quarter. Finally, C WorldWide Group Holding A S lifted its holdings in shares of Progressive by 12,110.3% during the 1st quarter. C WorldWide Group Holding A S now owns 1,248,628 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $353,374,000 after purchasing an additional 1,238,402 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently commented on the company. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on Progressive from $288.00 to $281.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, July 18th. Wall Street Zen lowered Progressive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, July 18th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on Progressive from $275.00 to $265.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday. Citigroup started coverage on Progressive in a research note on Wednesday. They issued a “buy” rating and a $312.00 target price for the company. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald started coverage on Progressive in a research note on Tuesday. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $240.00 target price for the company. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Progressive presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $283.06.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider John Jo Murphy sold 2,218 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.24, for a total transaction of $552,814.32. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 47,942 shares in the company, valued at $11,949,064.08. The trade was a 4.42% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Andrew J. Quigg sold 3,191 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.24, for a total value of $795,324.84. Following the transaction, the insider owned 37,977 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,465,387.48. This represents a 7.75% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 104,250 shares of company stock worth $26,332,348 in the last quarter. 0.34% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Progressive Price Performance

Shares of Progressive stock opened at $249.06 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 0.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. The Progressive Corporation has a twelve month low of $226.52 and a twelve month high of $292.99. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $254.36 and a 200 day moving average price of $266.21. The firm has a market cap of $146.00 billion, a PE ratio of 14.03, a P/E/G ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 0.33.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 16th. The insurance provider reported $4.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.43 by $0.45. Progressive had a return on equity of 35.37% and a net margin of 12.66%. The company had revenue of $20.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $20.39 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.48 EPS. Progressive’s revenue was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that The Progressive Corporation will post 14.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 2nd will be issued a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.2%. Progressive’s payout ratio is 2.25%.

Progressive 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.