The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) Receives $288.59 Consensus Target Price from Analysts

The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) has earned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eighteen brokerages that are covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and eleven have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price target among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $288.59.

Several equities analysts have commented on PGR shares. Morgan Stanley set a $330.00 price objective on shares of Progressive and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, May 19th. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Progressive from $285.00 to $291.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 28th. Bank of America raised shares of Progressive from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $312.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Progressive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price target on shares of Progressive from $327.00 to $319.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 11th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 258,024 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $71,199,142.56. The trade was a 3.73% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CIO Jonathan S. Bauer sold 1,696 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $282.66, for a total value of $479,391.36. Following the transaction, the executive now directly owns 26,697 shares in the company, valued at $7,546,174.02. This trade represents a 5.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 37,755 shares of company stock worth $10,367,074. 0.34% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Progressive

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Archer Investment Corp increased its holdings in Progressive by 295.1% during the 4th quarter. Archer Investment Corp now owns 2,102 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $504,000 after purchasing an additional 1,570 shares during the last quarter. Sycomore Asset Management increased its holdings in Progressive by 42.8% during the 4th quarter. Sycomore Asset Management now owns 51,770 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $13,066,000 after purchasing an additional 15,512 shares during the last quarter. Vivid Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Progressive during the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,143,000. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its holdings in Progressive by 3.4% during the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 16,199 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $3,881,000 after purchasing an additional 527 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Financial Strategies Group Inc. increased its holdings in Progressive by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. Financial Strategies Group Inc. now owns 39,693 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $9,352,000 after purchasing an additional 1,232 shares during the last quarter. 85.34% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Progressive Stock Down 0.4%

PGR opened at $279.19 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 0.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $276.19 and a 200-day moving average price of $264.49. Progressive has a twelve month low of $201.34 and a twelve month high of $292.99. The stock has a market capitalization of $163.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.39, a PEG ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.40.

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

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 3rd were given a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.14%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 3rd. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio is presently 2.70%.

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.