Progressive (NYSE:PGR) Announces Earnings Results

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) released its earnings results on Wednesday. The insurance provider reported $4.65 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.28 by $0.37, Zacks reports. The business had revenue of $22.21 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $21.87 billion. Progressive had a return on equity of 33.79% and a net margin of 11.25%.

Progressive Trading Down 3.5 %

NYSE PGR opened at $265.45 on Friday. 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 company has a fifty day simple moving average of $273.76 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $257.76. The stock has a market cap of $155.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.43, a P/E/G ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.38. Progressive has a 12-month low of $201.34 and a 12-month high of $292.99.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 3rd. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.15%. Progressive’s payout ratio is 2.70%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on PGR. StockNews.com lowered shares of Progressive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, April 4th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price target on shares of Progressive from $327.00 to $319.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued a “market perform” rating and issued a $288.00 price objective on shares of Progressive in a research note on Thursday. Barclays upped their target price on Progressive from $285.00 to $297.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, April 11th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on Progressive from $282.00 to $288.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $285.76.

Insider Activity at Progressive

In other news, insider Andrew J. Quigg sold 962 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $243.29, for a total transaction of $234,044.98. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 34,787 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,463,329.23. This represents a 2.69 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 1,542 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $282.66, for a total transaction of $435,861.72. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 268,024 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $75,759,663.84. This represents a 0.57 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 56,317 shares of company stock worth $14,844,282 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A hedge fund recently bought a new stake in Progressive stock. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 1,122 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $269,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

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.