Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management Decreases Stake in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management trimmed its holdings in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 32.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,547 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 735 shares during the period. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management’s holdings in Progressive were worth $371,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Clarendon Private LLC purchased a new position in Progressive in the 4th quarter worth approximately $636,000. KFG Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Progressive by 16.9% during the fourth quarter. KFG Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,289 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $309,000 after buying an additional 186 shares in the last quarter. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. boosted its stake in Progressive by 14.4% during the fourth quarter. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. now owns 2,329 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $558,000 after buying an additional 293 shares during the last quarter. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc grew its holdings in Progressive by 40.4% in the 4th quarter. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc now owns 238,250 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $57,132,000 after buying an additional 68,589 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC increased its stake in shares of Progressive by 31.2% in the 4th quarter. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC now owns 3,940 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $944,000 after acquiring an additional 936 shares during the last quarter. 85.34% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on PGR. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on shares of Progressive from $273.00 to $267.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, December 16th. TD Cowen increased their price target on shares of Progressive from $197.00 to $237.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on shares of Progressive from $257.00 to $295.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on Progressive from $310.00 to $300.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Bank of America lifted their target price on Progressive from $331.00 to $335.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $274.65.

Insider Buying and Selling at Progressive

In other news, CEO Susan Patricia Griffith sold 11,021 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $243.29, for a total transaction of $2,681,299.09. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 473,736 shares in the company, valued at approximately $115,255,231.44. The trade was a 2.27 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Mariann Wojtkun Marshall sold 191 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, January 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $242.10, for a total transaction of $46,241.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 3,982 shares in the company, valued at $964,042.20. This trade represents a 4.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 42,506 shares of company stock valued at $10,531,159. Insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Progressive Stock Up 0.5 %

Progressive stock opened at $246.25 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $144.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.90, a P/E/G ratio of 0.62 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a current ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. The Progressive Co. has a twelve month low of $175.50 and a twelve month high of $270.62. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $247.89 and its 200-day simple moving average is $244.25.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The insurance provider reported $4.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.44 by $0.64. Progressive had a return on equity of 33.10% and a net margin of 11.27%. As a group, equities analysts expect that The Progressive Co. will post 13.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 16th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 9th were issued a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.16%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 2.91%.

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.