Clark Capital Management Group Inc. Has $1.78 Million Stock Position in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Clark Capital Management Group Inc. cut its stake in shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 37.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 7,417 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 4,467 shares during the period. Clark Capital Management Group Inc.’s holdings in Progressive were worth $1,777,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of PGR. Deutsche Bank AG lifted its stake in Progressive by 6.6% in the 4th quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 5,447,442 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,305,262,000 after purchasing an additional 337,146 shares during the last quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main increased its holdings in shares of Progressive by 9.1% during the 4th quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 786,850 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $188,537,000 after acquiring an additional 65,755 shares during the last quarter. Eagle Global Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Progressive by 16.0% during the 4th quarter. Eagle Global Advisors LLC now owns 44,160 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $10,581,000 after purchasing an additional 6,085 shares during the last quarter. Eminence Capital LP boosted its position in Progressive by 6.1% during the fourth quarter. Eminence Capital LP now owns 115,432 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $27,659,000 after purchasing an additional 6,635 shares during the period. Finally, Colonial Trust Co SC raised its position in shares of Progressive by 10.2% in the fourth quarter. Colonial Trust Co SC now owns 1,149 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $275,000 after purchasing an additional 106 shares during the period. 85.34% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CIO Jonathan S. Bauer sold 1,227 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $281.00, for a total transaction of $344,787.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive now owns 28,393 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,978,433. This trade represents a 4.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $268.59, for a total transaction of $2,685,900.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 248,024 shares in the company, valued at $66,616,766.16. This trade represents a 3.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 39,894 shares of company stock valued at $11,020,097 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Progressive Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of PGR stock opened at $284.33 on Friday. The Progressive Co. has a twelve month low of $201.34 and a twelve month high of $292.99. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $275.16 and its 200 day simple moving average is $260.28. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $166.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.75, a P/E/G ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.40.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 16th. The insurance provider reported $4.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.28 by $0.37. Progressive had a return on equity of 33.79% and a net margin of 11.25%. The company had revenue of $22.21 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $21.87 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that The Progressive Co. will post 14.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 11th. Investors 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.14%. Progressive’s payout ratio is 2.70%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on PGR shares. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Progressive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, April 4th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Progressive from $324.00 to $328.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Roth Mkm boosted their price objective on shares of Progressive from $290.00 to $315.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Progressive from $275.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, March 14th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Progressive from $267.00 to $287.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $287.65.

Progressive Company 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.