The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) Shares Bought by Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management

Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management lifted its stake in The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) by 170.8% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,190 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,643 shares during the period. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management’s holdings in Progressive were worth $1,186,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in PGR. Integrated Advisors Network LLC grew its holdings in Progressive by 1.0% in the first quarter. Integrated Advisors Network LLC now owns 3,808 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,078,000 after purchasing an additional 36 shares during the period. Pines Wealth Management LLC increased its position in Progressive by 3.0% in the 1st quarter. Pines Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,287 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $335,000 after buying an additional 37 shares in the last quarter. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Progressive by 2.0% in the first quarter. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,940 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $549,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Beacon Financial Group increased its holdings in shares of Progressive by 1.1% during the first quarter. Beacon Financial Group now owns 3,659 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,036,000 after acquiring an additional 39 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pinnacle Wealth Management Advisory Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Progressive by 2.1% in the 1st quarter. Pinnacle Wealth Management Advisory Group LLC now owns 1,927 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $545,000 after purchasing an additional 39 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Progressive news, insider Patrick K. Callahan sold 6,232 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $242.16, for a total value of $1,509,141.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 27,844 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,742,703.04. This represents a 18.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 16,664 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.24, for a total value of $4,153,335.36. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 228,024 shares in the company, valued at $56,832,701.76. This trade represents a 6.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 104,250 shares of company stock worth $26,332,348 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on PGR shares. Evercore ISI downgraded Progressive from an “outperform” rating to an “in-line” rating and set a $275.00 price target for the company. in a report on Thursday, July 17th. UBS Group reduced their price target on Progressive from $280.00 to $268.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, July 21st. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Progressive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, July 18th. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of Progressive from $290.00 to $280.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 14th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Progressive from $267.00 to $287.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $286.88.

Progressive Trading Down 0.4%

Shares of NYSE:PGR opened at $240.98 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $141.27 billion, a PE ratio of 13.58, a P/E/G ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 0.33. The company has a current ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 0.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. The Progressive Corporation has a 12-month low of $208.13 and a 12-month high of $292.99. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $260.21 and its 200-day simple moving average is $266.02.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 16th. The insurance provider reported $4.88 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.43 by $0.45. Progressive had a net margin of 12.66% and a return on equity of 35.37%. The business had revenue of $20.08 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $20.39 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.48 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that The Progressive Corporation will post 14.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 11th. Investors of record on Friday, July 4th were paid a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 3rd. This represents a yield of 15.0%. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 2.25%.

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.