Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management Has $1.23 Million Stock Position in The Progressive Corporation $PGR

Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management increased its position in shares of The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) by 10.3% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,621 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 431 shares during the quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management’s holdings in Progressive were worth $1,233,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in PGR. Highline Wealth Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Progressive by 114.0% during the 1st quarter. Highline Wealth Partners LLC now owns 92 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 49 shares in the last quarter. TruNorth Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Progressive by 210.0% during the 1st quarter. TruNorth Capital Management LLC now owns 93 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 63 shares in the last quarter. HWG Holdings LP bought a new stake in Progressive during the 1st quarter worth about $28,000. Garde Capital Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Progressive in the first quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Finally, Ransom Advisory Ltd bought a new position in shares of Progressive in the 1st quarter valued at about $35,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Karen Bailo sold 8,922 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.24, for a total value of $2,223,719.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 32,346 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,061,917.04. This trade represents a 21.62% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Lori A. Niederst sold 8,063 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.18, for a total transaction of $2,017,201.34. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 39,040 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,767,027.20. This trade represents a 17.12% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 130,045 shares of company stock worth $31,997,390. Corporate insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on PGR. UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of Progressive from $280.00 to $268.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, July 21st. BMO Capital Markets set a $252.00 target price on shares of Progressive in a research note on Thursday, September 18th. Evercore ISI reduced their target price on shares of Progressive from $275.00 to $273.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of Progressive from $287.00 to $281.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, August 19th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reduced their target price on shares of Progressive from $309.00 to $287.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 11th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $279.63.

Progressive Price Performance

NYSE:PGR opened at $246.10 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $144.27 billion, a PE ratio of 13.86, a P/E/G ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 0.32. The Progressive Corporation has a 1-year low of $228.54 and a 1-year high of $292.99. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $245.14 and a 200 day simple moving average of $260.76. The company has a current ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 0.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 16th. The insurance provider reported $4.88 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $20.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $20.39 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.48 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that The Progressive Corporation will post 14.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 2nd will be given a $0.10 dividend. 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 2nd. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 2.25%.

About Progressive

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.