Progressive’s (PGR) Market Perform Rating Reaffirmed at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods

Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated their market perform rating on shares of Progressive (NYSE:PGR) in a report released on Thursday, MarketBeat reports. They currently have a $288.00 price target on the insurance provider’s stock.

Other equities research analysts have also issued reports about the stock. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Progressive from $275.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Raymond James raised shares of Progressive from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $305.00 price objective for the company in a report on Thursday, December 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Progressive from $267.00 to $287.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. 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 note on Thursday. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on Progressive from $285.00 to $297.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $285.76.

Progressive Stock Down 3.5 %

Shares of NYSE:PGR opened at $265.45 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $155.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.43, a PEG ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.38. Progressive has a one year low of $201.34 and a one year high of $292.99. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $273.76 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $257.76. 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 (NYSE:PGR) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 16th. The insurance provider reported $4.65 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.28 by $0.37. The business had revenue of $22.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $21.87 billion. Progressive had a return on equity of 33.79% and a net margin of 11.25%. Analysts anticipate that Progressive will post 14.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Progressive

In other news, CEO Susan Patricia Griffith sold 11,021 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 $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. The trade was a 2.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Andrew J. Quigg sold 962 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $243.29, for a total value of $234,044.98. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 34,787 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,463,329.23. This represents a 2.69 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 56,317 shares of company stock worth $14,844,282. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PGR. Webster Bank N. A. purchased a new position in shares of Progressive during the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Highline Wealth Partners LLC boosted its position in Progressive by 114.0% during the 1st quarter. Highline Wealth Partners LLC now owns 92 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 49 shares in the last quarter. Hager Investment Management Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of Progressive during the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. Atlantic Edge Private Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Progressive by 54.7% in the 4th quarter. Atlantic Edge Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 116 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Minot DeBlois Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Progressive in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $28,000. 85.34% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.