Southpoint Capital Advisors LP Cuts Position in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Southpoint Capital Advisors LP lowered its holdings in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR - Free Report) by 20.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 800,000 shares of the insurance provider's stock after selling 200,000 shares during the quarter. Progressive comprises about 4.5% of Southpoint Capital Advisors LP's investment portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest position. Southpoint Capital Advisors LP owned 0.14% of Progressive worth $191,688,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Brookstone Capital Management lifted its stake in shares of Progressive by 14.7% during the fourth quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 1,210 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $290,000 after acquiring an additional 155 shares during the period. Ritholtz Wealth Management increased its holdings in Progressive by 4.8% in the fourth quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 7,619 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $1,826,000 after purchasing an additional 349 shares during the last quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC increased its holdings in Progressive by 51.0% in the fourth quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 9,100 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $2,180,000 after purchasing an additional 3,073 shares during the last quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors increased its holdings in Progressive by 9.8% in the fourth quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors now owns 3,565 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $854,000 after purchasing an additional 318 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Trust Co. of Vermont increased its holdings in Progressive by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont now owns 2,432 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $583,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.34% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Progressive

In related news, CAO Carl G. Joyce sold 360 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, March 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $276.17, for a total transaction of $99,421.20. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 655 shares in the company, valued at $180,891.35. The trade was a 35.47% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the chief financial officer now owns 269,566 shares in the company, valued at $75,462,306.04. This represents a 3.58% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 39,894 shares of company stock valued at $11,020,097 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.34% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed a "market perform" rating and set a $288.00 price target on shares of Progressive in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Wall Street Zen lowered Progressive from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday. Roth Mkm raised their price target on Progressive from $290.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. UBS Group increased their price objective on Progressive from $275.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, March 14th. 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 report on Monday, April 28th. Eight research 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 presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $288.24.

Progressive Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE PGR traded down $4.10 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $276.90. 2,505,671 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,644,619. The firm has a market capitalization of $162.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.23, a P/E/G 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 stock's fifty day simple moving average is $275.62 and its 200 day simple moving average is $262.42.

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. The company had revenue of $22.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $21.87 billion. Progressive had a return on equity of 33.79% and a net margin of 11.25%. Sell-side analysts predict that The Progressive Co. will post 14.68 EPS for the current year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd were issued a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 3rd. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.14%. Progressive's dividend 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.