Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund Increases Stock Holdings in The Progressive Corporation $PGR

Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund lifted its position in The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) by 55.4% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 371,370 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 132,400 shares during the period. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund owned 0.06% of Progressive worth $73,620,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Bard Associates Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Progressive during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Dagco Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Progressive during the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Progressive by 700.0% during the 1st quarter. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 144 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 126 shares during the last quarter. IFC & Insurance Marketing Inc. purchased a new stake in Progressive during the 4th quarter valued at $29,000. Finally, Ameriflex Group Inc. increased its position in Progressive by 106.6% during the third quarter. Ameriflex Group Inc. now owns 126 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. 85.34% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently commented on PGR shares. Barclays set a $247.00 target price on Progressive in a report on Wednesday, March 18th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of Progressive from $205.00 to $190.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 31st. Weiss Ratings lowered Progressive from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Wells Fargo & Company cut Progressive from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $205.00 price target for the company. in a report on Monday. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price objective on Progressive from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have given a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $237.37.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Progressive news, insider Steven Broz sold 1,157 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $204.76, for a total value of $236,907.32. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 27,511 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,633,152.36. This trade represents a 4.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider John Jo Murphy sold 5,916 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the insider directly owned 41,290 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,258,000. This represents a 12.53% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 15,230 shares of company stock worth $3,165,817 in the last 90 days. 0.32% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Progressive Price Performance

Shares of PGR stock opened at $231.75 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $203.38 and a 200 day moving average price of $206.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 0.27 and a current ratio of 0.27. The firm has a market capitalization of $135.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.78, a P/E/G ratio of 6.82 and a beta of 0.26. The Progressive Corporation has a 52-week low of $189.20 and a 52-week high of $261.66.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 15th. The insurance provider reported $4.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.67 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $22.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $23.51 billion. Progressive had a return on equity of 33.47% and a net margin of 12.92%.Progressive’s revenue was up 6.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $4.37 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that The Progressive Corporation will post 17.12 earnings per share for the current year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 2nd will be paid a $0.10 dividend. 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%.

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.