Left Brain Wealth Management LLC Reduces Stock Holdings in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Left Brain Wealth Management LLC lowered its position in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 2.1% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 12,084 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 262 shares during the period. Left Brain Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Progressive were worth $2,895,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its position 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 worth $189,000 after purchasing an additional 391 shares during the last quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC increased its position in shares of Progressive by 90.9% during the third quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 7,813 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,983,000 after acquiring an additional 3,720 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its stake in shares of Progressive by 7.0% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 5,067,924 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,286,036,000 after acquiring an additional 330,667 shares during the period. 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 worth $103,990,000 after acquiring an additional 415,628 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Signal Advisors Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Progressive by 42.3% in the 4th quarter. Signal Advisors Wealth LLC now owns 11,889 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,849,000 after acquiring an additional 3,534 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PGR has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their target price on Progressive from $295.00 to $294.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 10th. StockNews.com downgraded Progressive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday. Roth Mkm increased their target price on Progressive from $290.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Hsbc Global Res lowered Progressive from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Progressive from $251.00 to $256.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Progressive presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $277.82.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Progressive news, CEO Susan Patricia Griffith sold 11,021 shares of the firm’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 transaction of $2,681,299.09. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 473,736 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $115,255,231.44. This trade represents a 2.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Andrew J. Quigg sold 681 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $242.10, for a total transaction of $164,870.10. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 33,612 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,137,465.20. The trade was a 1.99 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 62,257 shares of company stock valued at $15,752,781. 0.34% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Progressive Price Performance

Shares of PGR opened at $279.54 on Friday. The Progressive Co. has a twelve month low of $199.54 and a twelve month high of $287.49. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $257.30 and its 200-day simple moving average is $253.68. The firm has a market capitalization of $163.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.41, a PEG ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.35. The company has a current ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 11.25% and a return on equity of 33.79%. Equities analysts forecast that The Progressive Co. will post 14.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be issued a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 3rd. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.14%. Progressive’s payout ratio is 2.78%.

Progressive 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.