Empower Advisory Group LLC Grows Stock Holdings in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Empower Advisory Group LLC grew its stake in shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 65.8% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 2,645 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,050 shares during the period. Empower Advisory Group LLC’s holdings in Progressive were worth $671,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of PGR. Davis Capital Management acquired a new position in Progressive during the third quarter worth $25,000. WR Wealth Planners LLC raised its stake in shares of Progressive by 119.6% during the 2nd quarter. WR Wealth Planners LLC now owns 123 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 67 shares during the last quarter. Hilltop National Bank boosted its position in shares of Progressive by 126.0% in the 2nd quarter. Hilltop National Bank now owns 165 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 92 shares in the last quarter. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. grew its stake in Progressive by 114.1% in the 3rd quarter. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. now owns 137 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 73 shares during the last quarter. Finally, LRI Investments LLC purchased a new position in Progressive during the 1st quarter valued at about $36,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently commented on PGR. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Progressive from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Progressive from $242.00 to $251.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. TD Cowen upped their price objective on Progressive from $197.00 to $237.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Roth Mkm increased their price objective on Progressive from $270.00 to $290.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on shares of Progressive from $280.00 to $290.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Progressive has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $269.56.

Progressive Stock Performance

NYSE:PGR opened at $257.47 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $150.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.71, a P/E/G ratio of 0.73 and a beta of 0.36. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $251.92 and its two-hundred day moving average is $229.29. The Progressive Co. has a fifty-two week low of $149.14 and a fifty-two week high of $263.85. The company has a quick ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 0.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The insurance provider reported $3.58 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.40 by $0.18. Progressive had a return on equity of 33.10% and a net margin of 11.27%. The business had revenue of $19.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $18.95 billion. Analysts expect that The Progressive Co. will post 13.15 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other Progressive news, Director Dyke Kahina Van sold 2,180 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $252.28, for a total value of $549,970.40. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 13,723 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,462,038.44. This trade represents a 13.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Steven Broz sold 6,122 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $235.19, for a total value of $1,439,833.18. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 32,316 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,600,400.04. The trade was a 15.93 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 65,331 shares of company stock valued at $16,415,812 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

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.