Progressive (NYSE:PGR) Announces Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Estimates By $0.37 EPS

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

Progressive Stock Down 3.5 %

Shares of NYSE PGR traded down $9.68 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $265.45. 3,395,744 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,176,216. The company has a market cap of $155.62 billion, a PE ratio of 18.43, a PEG 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. 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 fifty day moving average price of $273.44 and a 200-day moving average price of $257.68.

Progressive Announces Dividend

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Progressive news, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of the 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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 258,024 shares in the company, valued at approximately $71,199,142.56. This trade represents a 3.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Mariann Wojtkun Marshall sold 585 shares of the business’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 $142,324.65. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 3,983 shares in the company, valued at approximately $969,024.07. This represents a 12.81 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 56,317 shares of company stock valued at $14,844,282. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Progressive

An institutional investor recently bought a new position in Progressive stock. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 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.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. Barclays increased their price target on Progressive from $285.00 to $297.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 11th. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Progressive from $275.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Roth Mkm lifted their price objective on shares of Progressive from $290.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Raymond James upgraded shares of Progressive from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $305.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 26th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price target on Progressive from $289.00 to $297.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $285.76.

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.