Analysts Set The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) Target Price at $276.12

The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eighteen research firms that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating on the company. The average twelve-month price objective among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $277.59.

A number of brokerages have weighed in on PGR. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price target on shares of Progressive from $295.00 to $294.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 10th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Progressive from $300.00 to $307.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Hsbc Global Res lowered shares of Progressive from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on shares of Progressive from $277.00 to $285.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, HSBC lowered shares of Progressive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $267.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Tuesday, December 10th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $238.66, for a total value of $2,386,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 282,958 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $67,530,756.28. The trade was a 3.41 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Susan Patricia Griffith sold 9,066 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $242.10, for a total transaction of $2,194,878.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 473,736 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $114,691,485.60. The trade was a 1.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 46,361 shares of company stock valued at $11,302,675 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Progressive

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its position in shares of Progressive by 98.2% during the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 789 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $189,000 after buying an additional 391 shares during the last quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC grew its position in shares of Progressive by 90.9% during the 3rd quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 7,813 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,983,000 after buying an additional 3,720 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its position in shares of Progressive by 7.0% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 5,067,924 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,286,036,000 after buying an additional 330,667 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its position in shares of Progressive by 2,262.4% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 433,999 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $103,990,000 after buying an additional 415,628 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Signal Advisors Wealth LLC grew its position in shares of Progressive by 42.3% during the 4th quarter. Signal Advisors Wealth LLC now owns 11,889 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,849,000 after buying an additional 3,534 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Progressive Stock Up 2.0 %

Shares of PGR opened at $279.02 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $163.45 billion, a PE ratio of 19.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.42. The company’s fifty day moving average is $249.41 and its two-hundred day moving average is $250.50. Progressive has a fifty-two week low of $186.94 and a fifty-two week high of $280.25. The company has a quick ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 0.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The insurance provider reported $4.08 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.44 by $0.64. Progressive had a net margin of 11.25% and a return on equity of 33.79%. Analysts forecast that Progressive will post 14.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

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

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.