Taika Capital LP Acquires Shares of 1,460 The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Taika Capital LP acquired a new stake in shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund acquired 1,460 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $350,000.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Progressive during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $408,416,000. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Progressive by 13.2% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,425,792 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $3,652,235,000 after purchasing an additional 1,682,213 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC raised its holdings in Progressive by 21.6% in the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 4,749,628 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,205,266,000 after acquiring an additional 842,109 shares during the last quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec raised its holdings in Progressive by 75.3% in the 3rd 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 acquiring an additional 641,943 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Proficio Capital Partners LLC raised its holdings in Progressive by 36,819.8% in the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 568,195 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $136,145,000 after acquiring an additional 566,656 shares during the last quarter. 85.34% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Progressive Stock Down 0.5 %

PGR opened at $279.77 on Monday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $254.23 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $252.81. The Progressive Co. has a 52 week low of $194.49 and a 52 week high of $287.49. The company has a market capitalization of $164.00 billion, a PE ratio of 19.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.35. The company has a quick ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 0.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27.

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

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of the company’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 sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 282,958 shares in the company, valued at approximately $67,530,756.28. This represents a 3.41 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Andrew J. Quigg sold 681 shares of the company’s 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 sale, the insider now owns 33,612 shares in the company, valued at $8,137,465.20. This represents a 1.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 56,361 shares of company stock worth $14,102,075. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Progressive from $331.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 18th. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on shares of Progressive from $273.00 to $267.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Raymond James raised shares of Progressive from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $305.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 26th. Hsbc Global Res downgraded shares of Progressive from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price objective on shares of Progressive from $295.00 to $294.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $277.59.

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.