Syon Capital LLC Has $2.41 Million Stock Position in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Syon Capital LLC lessened its holdings in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 4.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 10,054 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 419 shares during the period. Syon Capital LLC’s holdings in Progressive were worth $2,409,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in PGR. Sompo Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Progressive by 3.9% in the fourth quarter. Sompo Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 1,850 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $443,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares during the last quarter. Alta Advisers Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Progressive by 21.0% in the 4th quarter. Alta Advisers Ltd now owns 1,936 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $464,000 after buying an additional 336 shares during the last quarter. Manchester Global Management UK Ltd bought a new stake in Progressive during the fourth quarter worth $11,933,000. ClearAlpha Technologies LP purchased a new position in Progressive in the fourth quarter worth $208,000. Finally, Fayez Sarofim & Co increased its position in shares of Progressive by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Fayez Sarofim & Co now owns 2,240,181 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $536,770,000 after purchasing an additional 6,023 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Lori A. Niederst sold 3,855 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $247.06, for a total transaction of $952,416.30. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 39,040 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,645,222.40. This represents a 8.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $275.94, for a total value of $2,759,400.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 258,024 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $71,199,142.56. The trade was a 3.73 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 43,749 shares of company stock worth $11,786,613 in the last ninety days. 0.33% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Progressive Trading Up 3.0 %

Shares of PGR opened at $265.26 on Wednesday. The Progressive Co. has a fifty-two week low of $201.34 and a fifty-two week high of $292.99. The firm has a market cap of $155.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.42, a PEG ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.38. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $274.00 and a 200-day moving average price of $257.97. 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 posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 16th. The insurance provider reported $4.65 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.28 by $0.37. Progressive had a net margin of 11.25% and a return on equity of 33.79%. The business had revenue of $22.21 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $21.87 billion. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that The Progressive Co. will post 14.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.15%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 3rd. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio is presently 2.70%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated a “market perform” rating and set a $288.00 price target on shares of Progressive in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Progressive from $267.00 to $287.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Bank of America upped their price target on Progressive from $289.00 to $297.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Progressive from $300.00 to $307.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reduced their target price on shares of Progressive from $327.00 to $319.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Progressive presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $285.76.

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.