Picton Mahoney Asset Management Has $28.90 Million Holdings in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Picton Mahoney Asset Management lessened its position in shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 3.7% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 120,615 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 4,668 shares during the period. Progressive makes up about 0.9% of Picton Mahoney Asset Management’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 18th largest position. Picton Mahoney Asset Management’s holdings in Progressive were worth $28,901,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Webster Bank N. A. bought a new position in shares of Progressive in the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Hager Investment Management Services LLC acquired a new stake in Progressive during the fourth quarter worth approximately $28,000. Atlantic Edge Private Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Progressive by 54.7% during the fourth quarter. Atlantic Edge Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 116 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. raised its position 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 valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 120 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Atala Financial Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Progressive in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Institutional investors own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Progressive

In other news, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of the company’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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 282,958 shares in the company, valued at $67,530,756.28. This represents a 3.41 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Andrew J. Quigg sold 681 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction on Friday, January 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $242.10, for a total value of $164,870.10. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 33,612 shares in the company, valued at $8,137,465.20. This trade represents a 1.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 62,257 shares of company stock worth $15,752,781. 0.34% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PGR has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Hsbc Global Res downgraded shares of Progressive from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price target on shares of Progressive from $295.00 to $294.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 10th. HSBC downgraded Progressive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $267.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Roth Mkm upped their price target on shares of Progressive from $290.00 to $315.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Finally, Barclays upped their price target on shares of Progressive from $264.00 to $285.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $281.76.

Progressive Trading Up 1.6 %

Shares of NYSE PGR opened at $283.87 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $258.14 and its 200-day moving average price is $253.97. The company has a market cap of $166.41 billion, a PE ratio of 19.71, a P/E/G ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.35. The Progressive Co. has a 52-week low of $199.57 and a 52-week high of $287.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a current ratio of 0.31.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last posted 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 return on equity of 33.79% and a net margin of 11.25%. On average, equities research analysts expect that The Progressive Co. will post 14.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

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

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.