Sage Mountain Advisors LLC Increases Stake in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Sage Mountain Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 3.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 3,225 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 107 shares during the period. Sage Mountain Advisors LLC’s holdings in Progressive were worth $773,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its holdings in Progressive by 98.2% during the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 789 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $189,000 after buying an additional 391 shares during the last quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC increased its position in shares of Progressive by 90.9% in the third quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 7,813 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,983,000 after acquiring an additional 3,720 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its stake in shares of Progressive by 7.0% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 5,067,924 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,286,036,000 after acquiring an additional 330,667 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its holdings in shares of Progressive by 2,262.4% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 433,999 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $103,990,000 after purchasing an additional 415,628 shares during the period. Finally, Signal Advisors Wealth LLC grew its stake in shares of Progressive by 42.3% in the fourth quarter. Signal Advisors Wealth LLC now owns 11,889 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,849,000 after purchasing an additional 3,534 shares during the last quarter. 85.34% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Progressive Stock Performance

PGR stock opened at $277.33 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $162.57 billion, a PE ratio of 19.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.35. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $255.77 and its 200 day simple moving average is $253.33. The Progressive Co. has a 12-month low of $195.57 and a 12-month high of $287.49. The company has a current ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27.

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

Progressive Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 3rd. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.14%. Progressive’s payout ratio is 2.78%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on PGR shares. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on Progressive from $273.00 to $267.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, December 16th. Raymond James raised Progressive from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $305.00 price target for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 26th. HSBC cut shares of Progressive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $267.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Bank of America decreased their price objective on shares of Progressive from $333.00 to $318.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Progressive from $251.00 to $256.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $276.59.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $238.66, for a total value of $2,386,600.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 282,958 shares in the company, valued at $67,530,756.28. This trade represents a 3.41 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Mariann Wojtkun Marshall sold 191 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction on Friday, January 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $242.10, for a total value of $46,241.10. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 3,982 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $964,042.20. The trade was a 4.58 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 62,257 shares of company stock worth $15,752,781. 0.34% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.