Bank of America Cuts Progressive (NYSE:PGR) Price Target to $346.00

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) had its target price lowered by Bank of America from $351.00 to $346.00 in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a buy rating on the insurance provider’s stock.

PGR has been the subject of several other research reports. Jefferies Financial Group cut shares of Progressive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $261.00 to $232.00 in a research report on Friday, November 14th. HSBC set a $259.00 price objective on Progressive and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Monday. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on Progressive from $266.00 to $246.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target on Progressive from $276.00 to $245.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, October 27th. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered Progressive from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Friday, November 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $266.52.

Progressive Stock Performance

NYSE PGR opened at $226.99 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a current ratio of 0.32 and a quick ratio of 0.31. The company has a market cap of $133.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.45, a P/E/G ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 0.29. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $228.90 and a two-hundred day moving average of $248.69. Progressive has a 1-year low of $199.90 and a 1-year high of $292.99.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 15th. The insurance provider reported $4.45 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $5.04 by ($0.59). The business had revenue of $21.38 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $21.64 billion. Progressive had a net margin of 12.57% and a return on equity of 33.88%. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $3.58 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Progressive will post 14.68 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider John Jo Murphy sold 2,218 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $242.10, for a total value of $536,977.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 43,506 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,532,802.60. This represents a 4.85% 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, insider Steven Broz sold 1,345 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $220.00, for a total transaction of $295,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 29,043 shares in the company, valued at $6,389,460. This represents a 4.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 41,987 shares of company stock valued at $10,257,508. 0.34% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Rise Advisors LLC lifted its position in Progressive by 7.4% in the first quarter. Rise Advisors LLC now owns 521 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $147,000 after acquiring an additional 36 shares during the last quarter. Pinnacle Wealth Management Advisory Group LLC increased its position in shares of Progressive by 2.1% during the first quarter. Pinnacle Wealth Management Advisory Group LLC now owns 1,927 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $545,000 after purchasing an additional 39 shares in the last quarter. LRI Investments LLC increased its position in shares of Progressive by 13.4% during the second quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 338 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $90,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares in the last quarter. True North Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Progressive by 4.0% in the 1st quarter. True North Advisors LLC now owns 1,055 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $299,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Prosperity Consulting Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Progressive by 1.1% in the 1st quarter. Prosperity Consulting Group LLC now owns 3,824 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,082,000 after purchasing an additional 42 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.