Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Reaffirms “Market Perform” Rating for Progressive (NYSE:PGR)

Progressive (NYSE:PGR)‘s stock had its “market perform” rating reissued by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday, Marketbeat reports. They presently have a $288.00 price objective on the insurance provider’s stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods’ price objective suggests a potential upside of 8.49% from the company’s current price.

Other research analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. 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 report on Friday, April 11th. StockNews.com downgraded Progressive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, April 4th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Progressive from $275.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, March 14th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Progressive from $300.00 to $307.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Progressive from $267.00 to $287.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $285.76.

Progressive Stock Performance

NYSE:PGR opened at $265.45 on Thursday. Progressive has a fifty-two week low of $201.34 and a fifty-two week high of $292.99. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $273.91 and its two-hundred day moving average is $257.84. The company has a market cap of $155.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.43, a P/E/G ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.38. 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 posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 16th. The insurance provider reported $4.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.28 by $0.37. The firm had revenue of $22.21 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $21.87 billion. Progressive had a return on equity of 33.79% and a net margin of 11.25%. Analysts expect that Progressive will post 14.68 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Mariann Wojtkun Marshall sold 585 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $243.29, for a total value of $142,324.65. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 3,983 shares in the company, valued at approximately $969,024.07. This trade represents a 12.81 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Carl G. Joyce sold 360 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $276.17, for a total value of $99,421.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 655 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $180,891.35. This trade represents a 35.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 56,317 shares of company stock valued at $14,844,282 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of PGR. Morse Asset Management Inc bought a new position in shares of Progressive during the third quarter valued at approximately $55,000. Virtu Financial LLC bought a new position in Progressive during the 3rd quarter worth $2,566,000. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in Progressive by 2.2% in the third quarter. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC now owns 8,054 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,044,000 after buying an additional 171 shares during the period. Anchor Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Progressive by 55.0% in the third quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 1,583 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $402,000 after buying an additional 562 shares during the last quarter. Finally, World Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Progressive by 99.0% during the third quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 3,307 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $839,000 after acquiring an additional 1,645 shares during the last quarter. 85.34% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.