AXQ Capital LP Has $871,000 Stock Holdings in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

AXQ Capital LP lessened its holdings in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 3.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,634 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 147 shares during the period. AXQ Capital LP’s holdings in Progressive were worth $871,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Progressive in the fourth quarter worth about $408,416,000. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Progressive by 13.2% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,425,792 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $3,652,235,000 after purchasing an additional 1,682,213 shares during the period. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec increased its stake in shares of Progressive by 75.3% in the third quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 1,494,084 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $379,139,000 after purchasing an additional 641,943 shares during the period. Proficio Capital Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Progressive by 36,819.8% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 568,195 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $136,145,000 after purchasing an additional 566,656 shares during the period. Finally, Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund increased its stake in shares of Progressive by 102.3% in the third quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 1,024,992 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $260,102,000 after purchasing an additional 518,262 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Andrew J. Quigg sold 681 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $242.10, for a total transaction of $164,870.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 33,612 shares in the company, valued at $8,137,465.20. This represents a 1.99 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $238.66, for a total transaction of $2,386,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 282,958 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $67,530,756.28. This trade represents a 3.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 65,495 shares of company stock valued at $16,668,034. Company insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Roth Mkm boosted their price target on Progressive from $290.00 to $315.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Bank of America lowered their price target on Progressive from $318.00 to $300.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. HSBC downgraded Progressive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $267.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Progressive from $275.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, March 14th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on Progressive from $273.00 to $267.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, December 16th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $281.06.

Progressive Price Performance

PGR opened at $273.08 on Friday. 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 Progressive Co. has a 12 month low of $201.34 and a 12 month high of $292.99. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $261.96 and a 200 day simple moving average of $254.99. The stock has a market cap of $160.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.96, a P/E/G ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.35.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The insurance provider reported $4.08 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.44 by $0.64. Progressive had a net margin of 11.25% and a return on equity of 33.79%. On average, research analysts expect that The Progressive Co. will post 14.68 EPS for the current year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be paid a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.15%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 3rd. Progressive’s payout ratio is presently 2.78%.

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.