Sepio Capital LP Has $3.74 Million Stock Position in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Sepio Capital LP lessened its position in shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 7.6% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund 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 quarter.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Webster Bank N. A. acquired a new stake in shares of Progressive during the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Hager Investment Management Services LLC bought a new position in Progressive in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Atlantic Edge Private Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Progressive by 54.7% during the 4th quarter. Atlantic Edge Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 116 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 41 shares during the period. Valley National Advisers Inc. raised its position in shares of Progressive by 3,000.0% during the 4th quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 124 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 120 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Atala Financial Inc acquired a new position in shares of Progressive in the 4th quarter valued at $32,000. Institutional investors own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on PGR shares. Hsbc Global Res cut Progressive from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Roth Mkm upped their price target on Progressive from $290.00 to $315.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Progressive from $264.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased 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. Finally, Bank of America lowered shares of Progressive from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $300.00 to $287.00 in a report on Friday. Eight equities research 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, Progressive has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $280.29.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Progressive news, CAO Mariann Wojtkun Marshall sold 585 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $243.29, for a total transaction of $142,324.65. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 3,983 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $969,024.07. The trade was a 12.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Andrew J. Quigg sold 962 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $243.29, for a total value of $234,044.98. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 34,787 shares in the company, valued at $8,463,329.23. This represents a 2.69 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 56,317 shares of company stock worth $14,844,282. Insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Progressive Stock Down 10.4 %

Shares of PGR stock opened at $257.27 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $269.14 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $256.74. 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 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 $150.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.87, a PEG ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.38.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The insurance provider reported $4.08 earnings per share (EPS) 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%. On average, equities analysts predict that The Progressive Co. will post 14.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

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

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.