Sovereign s Capital Management LLC Acquires Shares of 15,897 The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Sovereign s Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 15,897 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $3,809,000. Progressive accounts for approximately 2.4% of Sovereign s Capital Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 13th biggest holding.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PGR. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Progressive by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 187,334 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $44,887,000 after acquiring an additional 753 shares in the last quarter. St. Clair Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Progressive during the fourth quarter valued at about $18,256,000. Tremblant Capital Group grew its stake in shares of Progressive by 20.9% during the fourth quarter. Tremblant Capital Group now owns 12,501 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,995,000 after acquiring an additional 2,161 shares in the last quarter. Triglav Skladi D.O.O. acquired a new stake in shares of Progressive during the fourth quarter valued at about $6,856,000. Finally, Two Sigma Investments LP grew its stake in shares of Progressive by 9.5% during the fourth quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 938,027 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $224,761,000 after acquiring an additional 81,134 shares in the last quarter. 85.34% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Progressive from $324.00 to $328.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Progressive from $310.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on Progressive from $282.00 to $288.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Progressive from $267.00 to $287.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated a “market perform” rating and issued a $288.00 price target on shares of Progressive in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $287.65.

Progressive Stock Performance

Shares of PGR stock opened at $285.93 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 0.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. The business has a 50 day moving average of $275.35 and a two-hundred day moving average of $261.81. The Progressive Co. has a 52 week low of $201.34 and a 52 week high of $292.99. The company has a market cap of $167.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.86, a PEG ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.40.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 16th. The insurance provider reported $4.65 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $22.21 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $21.87 billion. As a group, analysts anticipate that The Progressive Co. will post 14.68 EPS for the current year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd were paid a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 3rd. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.14%. Progressive’s payout ratio is currently 2.70%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Progressive

In other news, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $268.59, for a total transaction of $2,685,900.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 248,024 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $66,616,766.16. The trade was a 3.88% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CIO Jonathan S. Bauer sold 1,696 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction that occurred 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 in the company, valued at approximately $7,546,174.02. This trade represents a 5.97% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 39,894 shares of company stock worth $11,020,097 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.34% 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.