Two Sigma Advisers LP Sells 41,200 Shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Two Sigma Advisers LP lowered its stake in shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 2.9% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 1,368,000 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 41,200 shares during the quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP’s holdings in Progressive were worth $327,786,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Two Sigma Investments LP raised its position 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 buying an additional 81,134 shares during the last quarter. Tairen Capital Ltd grew its holdings in shares of Progressive by 156.4% in the fourth quarter. Tairen Capital Ltd now owns 60,000 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $14,377,000 after purchasing an additional 36,600 shares in the last quarter. Teza Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Progressive in the fourth quarter valued at $1,643,000. Tidal Investments LLC grew its holdings in shares of Progressive by 75.3% in the fourth quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 126,494 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $30,309,000 after purchasing an additional 54,331 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State of Wyoming grew its holdings in shares of Progressive by 195.4% in the fourth quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 4,602 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,103,000 after purchasing an additional 3,044 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Patrick K. Callahan sold 4,669 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $279.70, for a total transaction of $1,305,919.30. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 15,191 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,248,922.70. The trade was a 23.51% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $279.94, for a total transaction of $2,799,400.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 269,566 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $75,462,306.04. This represents a 3.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 39,894 shares of company stock valued at $11,020,097. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PGR has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Progressive from $324.00 to $328.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued a “market perform” rating and issued a $288.00 target price on shares of Progressive in a report on Thursday, April 17th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Progressive from $275.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, March 14th. StockNews.com raised shares of Progressive from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 13th. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on shares of Progressive from $285.00 to $297.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, April 11th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $287.65.

Progressive Stock Up 1.7%

NYSE PGR 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 company has a fifty day moving average of $275.35 and a two-hundred day moving average of $261.81. The firm has a market capitalization of $167.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.86, a PEG ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.40. The Progressive Co. has a 52 week low of $201.34 and a 52 week high of $292.99.

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, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.28 by $0.37. The firm had revenue of $22.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $21.87 billion. Progressive had a net margin of 11.25% and a return on equity of 33.79%. On average, analysts predict that The Progressive Co. will post 14.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

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

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.