Empirical Finance LLC Has $4.33 Million Holdings in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Empirical Finance LLC raised its stake in shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 3.5% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 20,944 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 708 shares during the period. Empirical Finance LLC’s holdings in Progressive were worth $4,332,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PGR. Sachetta LLC purchased a new position in shares of Progressive during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Northwest Bank & Trust Co bought a new stake in shares of Progressive in the 4th quarter worth $25,000. Valley National Advisers Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Progressive by 143.6% in the fourth quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 190 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 112 shares during the last quarter. Indiana Trust & Investment Management CO bought a new position in shares of Progressive during the first quarter valued at about $32,000. Finally, Register Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Progressive during the first quarter worth about $35,000. 85.34% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have commented on PGR. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Progressive from $230.00 to $232.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, June 17th. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $235.00 target price on shares of Progressive in a research note on Monday, June 17th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of Progressive from $256.00 to $255.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, June 10th. HSBC lifted their price objective on shares of Progressive from $174.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 28th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Progressive from $210.00 to $239.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Progressive currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $218.50.

Progressive Price Performance

NYSE PGR traded up $1.48 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $213.30. The company had a trading volume of 2,264,914 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,566,207. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $209.48 and a 200 day simple moving average of $196.71. The Progressive Co. has a 52 week low of $111.41 and a 52 week high of $217.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $124.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.84, a PEG ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 0.32 and a current ratio of 0.32.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last posted its earnings results on Friday, April 12th. The insurance provider reported $3.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.20 by $0.74. The business had revenue of $18.96 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.88 billion. Progressive had a net margin of 8.89% and a return on equity of 29.43%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.65 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that The Progressive Co. will post 11.23 earnings per share for the current year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 12th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 3rd will be paid a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, July 3rd. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.19%. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio is currently 4.09%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Devin C. Johnson sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.33, for a total value of $208,330.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 7,176 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,494,976.08. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, insider Steven Broz sold 7,361 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $207.25, for a total value of $1,525,567.25. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 35,503 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,357,996.75. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Devin C. Johnson sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.33, for a total transaction of $208,330.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 7,176 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,494,976.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 34,518 shares of company stock worth $7,159,674. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Progressive 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.