Kentucky Retirement Systems Decreases Stake in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Kentucky Retirement Systems trimmed its position in shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 7.6% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 40,801 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 3,335 shares during the quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems’ holdings in Progressive were worth $10,354,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PGR. Davis Capital Management acquired a new stake in shares of Progressive in the 3rd quarter valued at $25,000. WR Wealth Planners LLC increased its holdings in Progressive by 119.6% in the second quarter. WR Wealth Planners LLC now owns 123 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 67 shares during the last quarter. Hilltop National Bank raised its stake in Progressive by 126.0% in the second quarter. Hilltop National Bank now owns 165 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 92 shares in the last quarter. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. lifted its holdings in Progressive by 114.1% during the 3rd quarter. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. now owns 137 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 73 shares during the last quarter. Finally, LRI Investments LLC acquired a new position in shares of Progressive during the 1st quarter worth about $36,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have commented on PGR. Evercore ISI increased their price target on shares of Progressive from $277.00 to $285.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Progressive from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 12th. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Progressive from $267.00 to $277.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Progressive from $300.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Piper Sandler boosted their target price on Progressive from $250.00 to $252.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 15th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $269.56.

Progressive Stock Performance

Shares of PGR opened at $255.78 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $252.22 and a two-hundred day moving average of $229.82. The stock has a market cap of $149.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.59, a PEG ratio of 0.73 and a beta of 0.36. The Progressive Co. has a 12-month low of $149.14 and a 12-month high of $263.85. The company has a current ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The insurance provider reported $3.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.40 by $0.18. The firm had revenue of $19.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $18.95 billion. Progressive had a return on equity of 33.10% and a net margin of 11.27%. As a group, research analysts predict that The Progressive Co. will post 13.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Progressive news, insider Steven Broz sold 2,981 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $251.15, for a total value of $748,678.15. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 26,353 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,618,555.95. This trade represents a 10.16 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Susan Patricia Griffith sold 43,370 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $252.20, for a total transaction of $10,937,914.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 473,735 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $119,475,967. This represents a 8.39 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 65,331 shares of company stock valued at $16,415,812. Company insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Progressive Company 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.