The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) Receives Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eighteen research firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and twelve have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price target among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $277.59.

PGR has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Hsbc Global Res downgraded shares of Progressive from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. HSBC downgraded shares of Progressive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $267.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Bank of America increased their target price on shares of Progressive from $331.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Progressive from $251.00 to $256.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their target price on shares of Progressive from $277.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th.

Insider Transactions at Progressive

In other news, CAO Mariann Wojtkun Marshall sold 191 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $242.10, for a total transaction of $46,241.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 3,982 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $964,042.20. This trade represents a 4.58 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Susan Patricia Griffith sold 11,021 shares of the firm’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 $2,681,299.09. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 473,736 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $115,255,231.44. This trade represents a 2.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 46,361 shares of company stock valued at $11,302,675 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Progressive

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Fidelity D & D Bancorp Inc. boosted its position in Progressive by 44.3% during the fourth quarter. Fidelity D & D Bancorp Inc. now owns 2,606 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $624,000 after acquiring an additional 800 shares during the last quarter. Capital A Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Progressive during the fourth quarter worth approximately $359,000. United Advisor Group LLC boosted its position in Progressive by 9.0% during the fourth quarter. United Advisor Group LLC now owns 5,917 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,418,000 after acquiring an additional 488 shares during the last quarter. American Trust boosted its position in Progressive by 5.9% during the fourth quarter. American Trust now owns 4,559 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,092,000 after acquiring an additional 255 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ascent Group LLC boosted its position in Progressive by 8.9% during the fourth quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 36,842 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $8,828,000 after acquiring an additional 3,016 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Progressive Stock Performance

NYSE PGR opened at $279.02 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 0.31 and a quick ratio of 0.30. Progressive has a 1 year low of $186.94 and a 1 year high of $280.25. The company has a market capitalization of $163.45 billion, a PE ratio of 19.38, a P/E/G ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a fifty day moving average of $249.41 and a two-hundred day moving average of $250.50.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The insurance provider reported $4.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 expect that Progressive will post 14.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 16th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 9th were paid a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.14%. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 2.78%.

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.