Empire Life Investments Inc. Raises Stock Position in The Progressive Corporation $PGR

Empire Life Investments Inc. raised its stake in shares of The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) by 26.3% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 78,801 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 16,425 shares during the quarter. Empire Life Investments Inc.’s holdings in Progressive were worth $17,945,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of PGR. Brighton Jones LLC grew its stake in shares of Progressive by 15.6% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 3,392 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $813,000 after purchasing an additional 457 shares during the period. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Progressive in the 4th quarter worth approximately $269,000. Bison Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Progressive by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. Bison Wealth LLC now owns 2,568 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $615,000 after buying an additional 80 shares during the last quarter. HUB Investment Partners LLC grew its position in Progressive by 7.8% during the second quarter. HUB Investment Partners LLC now owns 2,282 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $609,000 after buying an additional 166 shares during the period. Finally, Diversify Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Progressive by 12.0% during the second quarter. Diversify Wealth Management LLC now owns 15,146 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $3,681,000 after buying an additional 1,622 shares during the last quarter. 85.34% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Progressive

In related news, CAO Carl G. Joyce sold 270 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $206.50, for a total transaction of $55,755.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 558 shares in the company, valued at approximately $115,227. This represents a 32.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Karen Bailo sold 3,517 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $212.00, for a total transaction of $745,604.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 32,348 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,857,776. The trade was a 9.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 6,933 shares of company stock valued at $1,441,564. Corporate insiders own 0.32% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have weighed in on PGR shares. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of Progressive from $208.00 to $221.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. Zacks Research upgraded Progressive from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $225.00 target price on shares of Progressive in a report on Monday, February 23rd. Mizuho cut their price target on Progressive from $235.00 to $223.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 20th. Finally, Bank of America upped their price target on Progressive from $295.00 to $298.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 14th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $238.39.

Progressive Price Performance

NYSE:PGR opened at $198.52 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 0.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $201.92 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $210.90. The stock has a market cap of $116.00 billion, a PE ratio of 10.09, a P/E/G ratio of 5.70 and a beta of 0.31. The Progressive Corporation has a 52 week low of $191.75 and a 52 week high of $289.96.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 15th. The insurance provider reported $4.80 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.67 by $0.13. Progressive had a return on equity of 33.47% and a net margin of 12.92%.The firm had revenue of $22.19 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $23.51 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $4.37 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that The Progressive Corporation will post 16.39 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 2nd were paid a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 2nd. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio is presently 2.03%.

Progressive Company 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.