Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management Has $364,000 Position in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management grew its stake in shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 16.6% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 2,288 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 326 shares during the quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management’s holdings in Progressive were worth $364,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Valley National Advisers Inc. boosted its holdings in Progressive by 143.6% in the fourth quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 190 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 112 shares in the last quarter. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. acquired a new position in Progressive during the fourth quarter worth $39,000. Criterion Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Progressive in the fourth quarter valued at $47,000. BOK Financial Private Wealth Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Progressive during the fourth quarter valued at about $48,000. Finally, Webster Bank N. A. bought a new stake in shares of Progressive during the fourth quarter worth about $53,000. Institutional investors own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on shares of Progressive from $241.00 to $245.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 15th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on shares of Progressive from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. TD Cowen started coverage on shares of Progressive in a research note on Wednesday, January 10th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $174.00 price objective for the company. UBS Group increased their price target on Progressive from $216.00 to $218.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on shares of Progressive from $161.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, March 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $211.88.

Insider Activity at Progressive

In related news, Director Devin C. Johnson sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the director now owns 7,176 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,494,976.08. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other Progressive news, Director Devin C. Johnson sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.33, for a total transaction 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 this hyperlink. Also, insider Karen Bailo sold 8,464 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $189.49, for a total transaction of $1,603,843.36. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 32,342 shares in the company, valued at $6,128,485.58. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 39,139 shares of company stock worth $7,458,139. Corporate insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Progressive Price Performance

Shares of Progressive stock opened at $215.90 on Thursday. The Progressive Co. has a 12-month low of $111.41 and a 12-month high of $217.77. The company has a quick ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $205.21 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $180.74. The firm has a market cap of $126.45 billion, a PE ratio of 22.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.34.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 12th. The insurance provider reported $3.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.20 by $0.74. The company 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%. Progressive’s revenue was up 17.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.65 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that The Progressive Co. will post 11.34 EPS for the current year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 4th were given a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, April 3rd. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.19%. Progressive’s payout ratio is presently 4.09%.

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.