Empirical Finance LLC Has $5.10 Million Holdings in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Empirical Finance LLC increased its position in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 2.3% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 20,115 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 449 shares during the period. Empirical Finance LLC’s holdings in Progressive were worth $5,104,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in Progressive by 355.5% during the 3rd quarter. Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors LLC now owns 8,654 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,196,000 after acquiring an additional 6,754 shares during the period. Dearborn Partners LLC increased its stake in Progressive by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Dearborn Partners LLC now owns 6,666 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,691,000 after buying an additional 152 shares during the period. CIBC Asset Management Inc increased its stake in Progressive by 9.6% in the 3rd quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 89,358 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $22,675,000 after buying an additional 7,797 shares during the period. Impax Asset Management Group plc lifted its position in Progressive by 24.9% in the 3rd quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 65,471 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $16,614,000 after buying an additional 13,047 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sycomore Asset Management grew its holdings in shares of Progressive by 28.9% during the 3rd quarter. Sycomore Asset Management now owns 36,258 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $9,151,000 after acquiring an additional 8,130 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently issued reports on PGR shares. Barclays increased their price objective on Progressive from $267.00 to $277.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. HSBC upgraded Progressive from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $253.00 price target for the company in a report on Monday, August 12th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on Progressive from $239.00 to $237.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Roth Mkm lifted their target price on shares of Progressive from $270.00 to $290.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Progressive from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 12th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $269.56.

Insider Transactions at Progressive

In other Progressive news, insider Patrick K. Callahan sold 7,696 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $255.21, for a total value of $1,964,096.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 15,189 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,876,384.69. This represents a 33.63 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Dyke Kahina Van sold 2,180 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $252.28, for a total value of $549,970.40. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 13,723 shares in the company, valued at $3,462,038.44. The trade was a 13.71 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 65,331 shares of company stock worth $16,415,812. Insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Progressive Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE:PGR opened at $258.82 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a current ratio of 0.30. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $251.92 and its 200-day moving average is $229.29. The company has a market cap of $151.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.71, a P/E/G ratio of 0.73 and a beta of 0.36. The Progressive Co. has a 52-week low of $149.14 and a 52-week high of $263.85.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The insurance provider reported $3.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.40 by $0.18. Progressive had a return on equity of 33.10% and a net margin of 11.27%. The firm had revenue of $19.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $18.95 billion. Equities research analysts predict that The Progressive Co. will post 13.11 earnings per share for the current year.

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.