AXQ Capital LP Sells 147 Shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

AXQ Capital LP reduced its stake in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 3.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,634 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 147 shares during the quarter. AXQ Capital LP’s holdings in Progressive were worth $871,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of PGR. Advisors Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in Progressive by 29.8% in the 3rd quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 15,240 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $3,867,000 after acquiring an additional 3,498 shares during the period. Moors & Cabot Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Progressive by 168.9% during the third quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 3,848 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $976,000 after purchasing an additional 2,417 shares during the period. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI increased its stake in Progressive by 11.0% in the third quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 14,381 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $3,649,000 after acquiring an additional 1,421 shares during the last quarter. Trustmark National Bank Trust Department increased its stake in Progressive by 40.2% in the third quarter. Trustmark National Bank Trust Department now owns 1,363 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $346,000 after acquiring an additional 391 shares during the last quarter. Finally, LPL Financial LLC increased its stake in Progressive by 20.5% in the third quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 391,273 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $99,290,000 after acquiring an additional 66,628 shares during the last quarter. 85.34% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PGR has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Progressive from $300.00 to $307.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Progressive from $251.00 to $256.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on shares of Progressive from $294.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday. Raymond James upgraded shares of Progressive from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $305.00 price target on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 26th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res downgraded shares of Progressive from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $281.06.

Progressive Stock Down 0.6 %

Progressive stock opened at $273.08 on Friday. The Progressive Co. has a fifty-two week low of $201.34 and a fifty-two week high of $292.99. The stock has a market cap of $160.08 billion, a PE ratio of 18.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.35. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $261.96 and its 200 day simple moving average is $254.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a current ratio of 0.31.

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

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be paid a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.15%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 3rd. Progressive’s payout ratio is 2.78%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Progressive

In related news, insider Andrew J. Quigg sold 681 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 3rd. The shares were 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. This represents a 1.99 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 1,542 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $282.66, for a total transaction of $435,861.72. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 268,024 shares in the company, valued at $75,759,663.84. The trade was a 0.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 65,495 shares of company stock worth $16,668,034 over the last three months. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by 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.