Progressive (NYSE:PGR) Downgraded by StockNews.com to Hold

StockNews.com cut shares of Progressive (NYSE:PGR) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report published on Friday.

A number of other research firms have also recently issued reports on PGR. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Progressive from $300.00 to $307.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Raymond James raised Progressive from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $305.00 price target for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 26th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Progressive from $275.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Roth Mkm boosted their target price on shares of Progressive from $290.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on shares of Progressive from $264.00 to $285.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 13th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $280.29.

Progressive Trading Down 10.4 %

Shares of NYSE PGR opened at $257.27 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $150.82 billion, a PE ratio of 17.87, a PEG ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.38. Progressive has a one year low of $201.34 and a one year high of $292.99. The company has a current ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $269.14 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $256.74.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The insurance provider reported $4.08 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.44 by $0.64. Progressive had a net margin of 11.25% and a return on equity of 33.79%. As a group, analysts predict that Progressive will post 14.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be given a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 3rd. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.16%. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio is 2.78%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $275.94, for a total value of $2,759,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 258,024 shares in the company, valued at approximately $71,199,142.56. This represents a 3.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Mariann Wojtkun Marshall sold 585 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $243.29, for a total transaction of $142,324.65. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 3,983 shares in the company, valued at $969,024.07. This represents a 12.81 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 56,317 shares of company stock valued at $14,844,282. Insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Progressive

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Webster Bank N. A. acquired a new position in Progressive in the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Hager Investment Management Services LLC bought a new position in shares of Progressive during the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. Atlantic Edge Private Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Progressive by 54.7% in the 4th quarter. Atlantic Edge Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 116 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. Minot DeBlois Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Progressive in the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. Finally, Valley National Advisers Inc. raised its stake in Progressive by 3,000.0% during the fourth quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 124 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 120 shares in the last quarter. 85.34% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.