Canada Pension Plan Investment Board Has $124.29 Million Stake in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Canada Pension Plan Investment Board reduced its holdings in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 26.3% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 598,368 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 213,285 shares during the quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board’s holdings in Progressive were worth $124,287,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Progressive by 0.6% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 51,751,851 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $10,703,318,000 after purchasing an additional 285,070 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors grew its holdings in Progressive by 15.7% during the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 4,925,019 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,018,592,000 after acquiring an additional 670,006 shares during the last quarter. FIL Ltd increased its position in Progressive by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 4,885,731 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $778,199,000 after acquiring an additional 19,724 shares in the last quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Progressive by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,577,731 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $569,861,000 after acquiring an additional 86,686 shares during the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. raised its stake in shares of Progressive by 3.0% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 2,392,773 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $497,003,000 after acquiring an additional 69,709 shares during the last quarter. 85.34% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Susan Patricia Griffith sold 43,370 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 473,735 shares in the company, valued at $119,475,967. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, CEO Susan Patricia Griffith sold 43,370 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $252.20, for a total transaction of $10,937,914.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 473,735 shares in the company, valued at $119,475,967. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Philip Bleser sold 2,129 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $219.08, for a total value of $466,421.32. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 974 shares in the company, valued at approximately $213,383.92. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 146,704 shares of company stock worth $33,367,408 over the last quarter. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on PGR. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on shares of Progressive from $262.00 to $280.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on Progressive from $250.00 to $252.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Progressive from $281.00 to $282.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded Progressive from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 12th. Finally, Roth Mkm boosted their price objective on Progressive from $270.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Progressive presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $257.18.

Progressive Trading Up 1.5 %

Shares of NYSE PGR opened at $259.23 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 0.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. The Progressive Co. has a twelve month low of $137.59 and a twelve month high of $260.46. The company’s fifty day moving average is $234.16 and its 200-day moving average is $217.06. The stock has a market cap of $151.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.53, a P/E/G ratio of 0.74 and a beta of 0.35.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 16th. The insurance provider reported $2.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.04 by $0.61. The firm had revenue of $17.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17.54 billion. Progressive had a return on equity of 33.01% and a net margin of 10.17%. The company’s revenue was up 21.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.57 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that The Progressive Co. will post 12.7 EPS for the current year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 3rd. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.15%. Progressive’s payout ratio is 4.09%.

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.