Sepio Capital LP Sells 1,290 Shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Sepio Capital LP lessened its holdings in shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 7.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 15,612 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 1,290 shares during the quarter. Sepio Capital LP’s holdings in Progressive were worth $3,741,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PGR. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its holdings in shares of Progressive by 98.2% during 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% during 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 buying an additional 415,628 shares in the last quarter. Signal Advisors Wealth LLC lifted its position in shares of Progressive by 42.3% in the fourth quarter. Signal Advisors Wealth LLC now owns 11,889 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,849,000 after buying an additional 3,534 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its stake in shares of 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 acquired a new position in shares of Progressive during the 3rd quarter valued at about $35,253,000. 85.34% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Progressive Trading Down 10.4 %

PGR stock opened at $257.27 on Friday. The Progressive Co. has a 1-year low of $201.34 and a 1-year high of $292.99. 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 business’s 50 day moving average is $269.14 and its 200-day moving average is $256.74. The firm has a market cap of $150.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.87, a P/E/G ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.38.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The insurance provider reported $4.08 earnings per share 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%. Equities analysts anticipate that The Progressive Co. will post 14.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.16%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 3rd. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio is currently 2.78%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PGR has been the subject of several analyst reports. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Progressive from $300.00 to $307.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Progressive from $275.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, March 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Progressive from $251.00 to $256.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Raymond James upgraded shares of Progressive from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $305.00 price target for the company in a report on Thursday, December 26th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res lowered Progressive from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $280.29.

Insider Buying and Selling at Progressive

In related news, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $275.94, for a total transaction of $2,759,400.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 258,024 shares in the company, valued at $71,199,142.56. This represents a 3.73 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CIO Jonathan S. Bauer sold 1,696 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $282.66, for a total value of $479,391.36. Following the sale, the executive now directly owns 26,697 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,546,174.02. This represents a 5.97 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 56,317 shares of company stock worth $14,844,282 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

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.