Two Sigma Investments LP Purchases 81,134 Shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Two Sigma Investments LP grew its stake in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR - Free Report) by 9.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 938,027 shares of the insurance provider's stock after acquiring an additional 81,134 shares during the quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP owned 0.16% of Progressive worth $224,761,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Webster Bank N. A. bought a new stake in Progressive in the fourth quarter worth $26,000. Hager Investment Management Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of Progressive in the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Atlantic Edge Private Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Progressive by 54.7% in the fourth quarter. Atlantic Edge Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 116 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. Minot DeBlois Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Progressive in the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Finally, Valley National Advisers Inc. raised its stake in shares of Progressive by 3,000.0% in the fourth quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 124 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 120 shares during the last quarter. 85.34% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on PGR shares. Morgan Stanley set a $330.00 price target on Progressive and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, May 19th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on Progressive from $282.00 to $288.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Wall Street Zen cut Progressive from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday. Barclays boosted their price target on Progressive from $285.00 to $297.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Finally, Bank of America upgraded Progressive from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $312.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $288.24.

Progressive Stock Performance

NYSE:PGR traded up $0.21 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $277.33. 1,677,588 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,641,453. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $275.22 and its 200-day moving average price is $262.86. The Progressive Co. has a one year low of $201.34 and a one year high of $292.99. The company has a quick ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 0.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. The firm has a market cap of $162.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.40.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 16th. The insurance provider reported $4.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.28 by $0.37. Progressive had a return on equity of 33.79% and a net margin of 11.25%. The business had revenue of $22.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $21.87 billion. Research analysts anticipate that The Progressive Co. will post 14.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 11th. Shareholders 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 0.14%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 3rd. Progressive's dividend payout ratio is presently 2.70%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Progressive

In other news, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $279.94, for a total value of $2,799,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 269,566 shares of the company's stock, valued at $75,462,306.04. This represents a 3.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Patrick K. Callahan sold 4,669 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $279.70, for a total value of $1,305,919.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 15,191 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,248,922.70. This trade represents a 23.51% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 42,384 shares of company stock valued at $11,711,495. Company insiders own 0.34% of the company's stock.

About Progressive

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.