Brevan Howard Capital Management LP Sells 30,162 Shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Brevan Howard Capital Management LP trimmed its position in shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR - Free Report) by 80.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,221 shares of the insurance provider's stock after selling 30,162 shares during the quarter. Brevan Howard Capital Management LP's holdings in Progressive were worth $1,730,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Webster Bank N. A. bought a new position in Progressive in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Hager Investment Management Services LLC acquired a new position in shares of Progressive during the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. Atlantic Edge Private Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Progressive by 54.7% during the fourth quarter. Atlantic Edge Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 116 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. lifted its stake in Progressive by 3,000.0% in the 4th quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 124 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 120 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Atala Financial Inc acquired a new position in Progressive during the 4th quarter worth approximately $32,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.34% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently commented on the stock. Roth Mkm boosted their price objective on shares of Progressive from $290.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Progressive from $285.00 to $297.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Progressive from $310.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 29th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on Progressive from $282.00 to $288.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, Bank of America upgraded Progressive from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $312.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $287.41.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $268.59, for a total transaction of $2,685,900.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 248,024 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $66,616,766.16. This trade represents a 3.88 % 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 hyperlink. Also, CIO Jonathan S. Bauer sold 1,696 shares of the business'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 value of $479,391.36. Following the completion of the sale, the executive now owns 26,697 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $7,546,174.02. This trade represents a 5.97 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 39,894 shares of company stock valued at $11,020,097. 0.34% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Progressive Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of PGR opened at $283.98 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $166.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a current ratio of 0.31. The Progressive Co. has a 52 week low of $201.34 and a 52 week high of $292.99. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $275.06 and its 200 day simple moving average is $259.61.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 16th. The insurance provider reported $4.65 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $4.28 by $0.37. Progressive had a return on equity of 33.79% and a net margin of 11.25%. The company had revenue of $22.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $21.87 billion. On average, analysts forecast that The Progressive Co. will post 14.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd were given a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was 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 presently 2.70%.

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.

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