Empirical Asset Management LLC Purchases Shares of 2,821 The Progressive Corporation $PGR

Empirical Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 2,821 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $616,000.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Progressive by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 55,261,140 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $12,584,067,000 after purchasing an additional 593,612 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Progressive during the 2nd quarter valued at $10,496,271,000. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Progressive by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 25,808,762 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $6,373,474,000 after buying an additional 78,374 shares during the period. Capital International Investors increased its holdings in shares of Progressive by 8.9% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 14,921,724 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $3,398,123,000 after buying an additional 1,217,527 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GQG Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Progressive by 11.7% during the 4th quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 10,432,549 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,375,706,000 after buying an additional 1,092,151 shares during the last quarter. 85.34% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on PGR. HSBC lifted their target price on Progressive from $214.00 to $221.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, July 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Progressive from $250.00 to $241.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, August 4th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their target price on Progressive from $231.00 to $226.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 16th. Mizuho set a $236.00 target price on shares of Progressive in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on shares of Progressive from $220.00 to $205.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 16th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $233.16.

Progressive Stock Performance

Progressive stock opened at $206.98 on Wednesday. The Progressive Corporation has a 12-month low of $189.20 and a 12-month high of $254.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 0.29 and a quick ratio of 0.29. The company has a market capitalization of $120.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.27. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $214.58 and its 200 day moving average price is $206.39.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 15th. The insurance provider reported $5.67 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.64 by $1.03. The company had revenue of $23.61 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $19.49 billion. Progressive had a net margin of 12.84% and a return on equity of 32.92%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $5.40 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that The Progressive Corporation will post 17.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 9th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 1st will be issued a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 1st. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.2%. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio is currently 2.01%.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Lori A. Niederst sold 7,339 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $209.29, for a total transaction of $1,535,979.31. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 42,567 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,908,847.43. This represents a 14.71% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CIO Jonathan S. Bauer sold 2,242 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $212.71, for a total transaction of $476,895.82. Following the sale, the executive directly owned 26,250 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,583,637.50. The trade was a 7.87% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 82,224 shares of company stock worth $17,416,438 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.32% of the company’s stock.

Progressive Company Profile

Progressive Corporation is a large U.S.-based property and casualty insurer that primarily underwrites personal auto insurance along with a broad suite of related products. Its offerings include coverage for private passenger automobiles, commercial auto fleets, motorcycles, boats and recreational vehicles, as well as homeowners, renters, umbrella and other specialty P&C products. Progressive also provides claims handling, risk management and related services to individual and commercial policyholders.

The company distributes its products through a mix of direct channels—online and by phone—and an extensive independent agent network.