Empowered Funds LLC Purchases New Position in The Progressive Corporation $PGR

Empowered Funds LLC acquired a new stake in The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 56,048 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $12,244,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Progressive in the second quarter valued at about $10,496,271,000. Bank of America Corp DE acquired a new position in Progressive during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $2,682,342,000. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Progressive during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,836,094,000. GQG Partners LLC purchased a new position in Progressive in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,538,570,000. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG purchased a new position in Progressive in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,098,838,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Progressive Price Performance

PGR opened at $218.90 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $127.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.98, a PEG ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.27. The company has a 50-day moving average of $217.19 and a 200-day moving average of $207.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a quick ratio of 0.29 and a current ratio of 0.29. The Progressive Corporation has a 1-year low of $189.20 and a 1-year high of $249.83.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 15th. The insurance provider reported $5.67 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.64 by $1.03. The business had revenue of $23.61 billion for 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 company’s quarterly revenue was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $5.40 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that The Progressive Corporation will post 17.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider John Jo Murphy sold 8,124 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $212.70, for a total transaction of $1,727,974.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 41,291 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,782,595.70. This represents a 16.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Susan Patricia Griffith sold 37,338 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 value of $7,942,165.98. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 522,776 shares in the company, valued at approximately $111,199,682.96. This trade represents a 6.67% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last three months, insiders sold 83,449 shares of company stock worth $17,685,203. Corporate insiders own 0.32% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on PGR shares. Cantor Fitzgerald dropped their price objective on shares of Progressive from $220.00 to $200.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 17th. Mizuho set a $236.00 target price on shares of Progressive in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Bank of America dropped their price target on shares of Progressive from $313.00 to $308.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Progressive in a research report on Monday, August 3rd. Finally, Evercore set a $240.00 target price on Progressive in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Progressive currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $236.26.

Progressive 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.