The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) Given Average Rating of “Hold” by Analysts

Shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) have received a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the seventeen analysts that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $211.88.

PGR has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. HSBC upped their target price on Progressive from $174.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. Bank of America dropped their price target on Progressive from $279.00 to $273.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. Roth Mkm increased their price target on Progressive from $215.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 18th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Progressive from $228.00 to $247.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on Progressive from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 25th.

Progressive Stock Down 1.0 %

NYSE PGR opened at $208.00 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $202.45 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $177.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 0.36 and a quick ratio of 0.31. Progressive has a fifty-two week low of $111.41 and a fifty-two week high of $216.21. The stock has a market capitalization of $121.83 billion, a PE ratio of 21.29, a PEG ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 0.35.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last released its earnings results on Friday, April 12th. The insurance provider reported $3.94 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.20 by $0.74. Progressive had a return on equity of 29.43% and a net margin of 8.89%. The firm had revenue of $18.96 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.88 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.65 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 17.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Progressive will post 11.22 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Progressive news, Director Devin C. Johnson sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.33, for a total transaction of $208,330.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 7,176 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,494,976.08. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Progressive news, 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 approximately $6,128,485.58. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Devin C. Johnson sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.33, for a total value of $208,330.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 7,176 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,494,976.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 39,139 shares of company stock worth $7,458,139. Company insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Progressive

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Progressive by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 51,466,781 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $8,197,629,000 after purchasing an additional 218,809 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in shares of Progressive by 14.1% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 21,554,503 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $3,002,542,000 after purchasing an additional 2,666,449 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its position in shares of Progressive by 3.6% during the 4th quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 14,935,652 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,378,951,000 after purchasing an additional 520,742 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position in shares of Progressive by 10.5% during the 3rd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 6,916,460 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $963,463,000 after purchasing an additional 655,706 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Progressive during the 4th quarter worth about $1,078,831,000. Institutional investors own 85.34% 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.