Caxton Associates LP Trims Position in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Caxton Associates LP reduced its holdings in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 19.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 6,075 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 1,505 shares during the period. Caxton Associates LP’s holdings in Progressive were worth $1,456,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in PGR. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its holdings in shares of Progressive by 2,262.4% in the 4th 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 during the period. Signal Advisors Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in Progressive by 42.3% in the fourth quarter. Signal Advisors Wealth LLC now owns 11,889 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,849,000 after acquiring an additional 3,534 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its position in Progressive by 30.5% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,069,697 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $255,882,000 after purchasing an additional 249,958 shares in the last quarter. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc grew its stake in shares of Progressive by 40.4% during the 4th quarter. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc now owns 238,250 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $57,132,000 after purchasing an additional 68,589 shares during the period. Finally, Synergy Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Progressive by 100.3% during the 4th quarter. Synergy Asset Management LLC now owns 3,541 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $875,000 after purchasing an additional 1,773 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently commented on PGR. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of Progressive from $282.00 to $288.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Bank of America upgraded Progressive from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $312.00 price target for the company in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Progressive from $320.00 to $324.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Progressive from $267.00 to $287.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Progressive from $310.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $287.41.

Insider Transactions at Progressive

In other Progressive news, CAO Carl G. Joyce sold 360 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $276.17, for a total transaction of $99,421.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 655 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $180,891.35. This trade represents a 35.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Patrick K. Callahan sold 4,669 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $279.70, for a total value of $1,305,919.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 15,191 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,248,922.70. This trade represents a 23.51 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 39,894 shares of company stock worth $11,020,097 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Progressive Price Performance

PGR stock opened at $282.11 on Tuesday. The Progressive Co. has a 1 year low of $201.34 and a 1 year high of $292.99. The firm has a market capitalization of $165.38 billion, a PE ratio of 19.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 0.31 and a quick ratio of 0.30. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $274.96 and a 200-day simple moving average of $259.44.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 16th. The insurance provider reported $4.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.28 by $0.37. Progressive had a return on equity of 33.79% and a net margin of 11.25%. The business had revenue of $22.21 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $21.87 billion. Equities research analysts anticipate that The Progressive Co. will post 14.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd were paid a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 3rd. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.14%. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 2.70%.

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.