Prospector Partners LLC Lowers Holdings in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Prospector Partners LLC lowered its holdings in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 32.3% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 78,150 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 37,254 shares during the period. Progressive makes up 2.1% of Prospector Partners LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 14th biggest holding. Prospector Partners LLC’s holdings in Progressive were worth $18,726,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of PGR. Federated Hermes Inc. lifted its position in Progressive by 11.9% in the fourth quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 221,596 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $53,097,000 after buying an additional 23,595 shares during the last quarter. Ilmarinen Mutual Pension Insurance Co lifted its holdings in shares of Progressive by 24.3% in the 4th quarter. Ilmarinen Mutual Pension Insurance Co now owns 186,595 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $44,710,000 after acquiring an additional 36,500 shares during the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its holdings in Progressive by 16.5% in the 4th quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 1,016,045 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $243,455,000 after purchasing an additional 144,108 shares during the last quarter. Ted Buchan & Co raised its position in Progressive by 13.1% in the fourth quarter. Ted Buchan & Co now owns 10,976 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,630,000 after purchasing an additional 1,272 shares during the period. Finally, Wedbush Securities Inc. lifted its stake in Progressive by 38.9% during the fourth quarter. Wedbush Securities Inc. now owns 2,332 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $559,000 after purchasing an additional 653 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PGR has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Barclays boosted their price objective on Progressive from $264.00 to $285.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 13th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Progressive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday. Roth Mkm raised their price objective on shares of Progressive from $290.00 to $315.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. HSBC lowered shares of Progressive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $267.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Raymond James upgraded shares of Progressive from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $305.00 price target for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 26th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $280.29.

Progressive Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:PGR opened at $257.27 on Friday. The Progressive Co. has a 12 month low of $201.34 and a 12 month high of $292.99. The firm has a market capitalization of $150.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.87, a P/E/G ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.38. 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 company’s fifty day moving average price is $269.14 and its 200 day moving average price is $256.74.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The insurance provider reported $4.08 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.44 by $0.64. Progressive had a return on equity of 33.79% and a net margin of 11.25%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that The Progressive Co. will post 14.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.10 per share. 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 0.16%. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 2.78%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $275.94, for a total transaction of $2,759,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 258,024 shares in the company, valued at $71,199,142.56. This represents a 3.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Mariann Wojtkun Marshall sold 585 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $243.29, for a total transaction of $142,324.65. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 3,983 shares in the company, valued at approximately $969,024.07. This trade represents a 12.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 56,317 shares of company stock valued at $14,844,282 in the last ninety days. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.