Progressive (NYSE:PGR) Price Target Raised to $320.00 at Morgan Stanley

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) had its target price increased by investment analysts at Morgan Stanley from $310.00 to $320.00 in a research report issued on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “overweight” rating on the insurance provider’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s target price suggests a potential upside of 18.69% from the company’s current price.

Other equities analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Bank of America raised Progressive from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $312.00 target price for the company in a research report on Monday. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Progressive from $320.00 to $324.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of Progressive from $282.00 to $288.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Progressive from $267.00 to $287.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price objective on Progressive from $275.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $287.41.

Progressive Stock Performance

Shares of PGR opened at $269.60 on Tuesday. Progressive has a 52 week low of $201.34 and a 52 week high of $292.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a current ratio of 0.31. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $274.12 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $258.47. The firm has a market capitalization of $158.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.72, a P/E/G ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.38.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 16th. The insurance provider reported $4.65 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.28 by $0.37. Progressive had a net margin of 11.25% and a return on equity of 33.79%. The business had revenue of $22.21 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $21.87 billion. Equities analysts forecast that Progressive will post 14.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Progressive

In other news, Director Jeffrey D. Kelly sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total transaction of $2,500,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 27,741 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,935,250. This trade represents a 26.50 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Lori A. Niederst sold 3,855 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $247.06, for a total value of $952,416.30. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 39,040 shares in the company, valued at $9,645,222.40. This represents a 8.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 43,749 shares of company stock worth $11,786,613. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in PGR. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its holdings in Progressive by 98.2% during the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 789 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $189,000 after buying an additional 391 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its position in shares of Progressive by 2,262.4% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 433,999 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $103,990,000 after purchasing an additional 415,628 shares during the last quarter. Signal Advisors Wealth LLC raised its stake in shares of Progressive by 42.3% during the fourth quarter. Signal Advisors Wealth LLC now owns 11,889 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,849,000 after purchasing an additional 3,534 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its position in Progressive by 30.5% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,069,697 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $255,882,000 after buying an additional 249,958 shares during the period. Finally, Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas bought a new position in shares of Progressive in the third quarter valued at approximately $35,253,000. 85.34% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.