The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) Receives $236.05 Average Price Target from Analysts

Shares of The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the twenty-three analysts that are covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1-year price target among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $236.2632.

PGR has been the subject of several recent research reports. Roth Capital reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $245.00 target price on shares of Progressive in a research report on Thursday, August 20th. Morgan Stanley raised Progressive from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $190.00 to $210.00 in a research note on Friday, July 24th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded Progressive from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $226.00 to $250.00 in a report on Thursday, August 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on Progressive from $250.00 to $241.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, August 4th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded Progressive from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Friday.

Progressive Stock Down 0.1%

Shares of NYSE:PGR opened at $218.37 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 0.29 and a quick ratio of 0.29. The stock has a market cap of $126.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.95, a P/E/G ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 0.27. The company has a 50 day moving average of $217.41 and a 200-day moving average of $207.38. Progressive has a one year low of $189.20 and a one year high of $249.83.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 15th. The insurance provider reported $5.67 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.64 by $1.03. Progressive had a net margin of 12.84% and a return on equity of 32.92%. The business had revenue of $23.61 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $19.49 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $5.40 earnings per share. Progressive’s revenue was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Progressive will post 17.74 earnings per share for the current year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 9th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 1st will be given a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 1st. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 2.01%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Progressive

In related news, insider John Jo Murphy sold 8,124 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $212.70, for a total transaction of $1,727,974.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 41,291 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,782,595.70. The trade was a 16.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Lori A. Niederst sold 7,339 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $209.29, for a total transaction of $1,535,979.31. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 42,567 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,908,847.43. The trade was a 14.71% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 83,449 shares of company stock worth $17,685,203 over the last ninety days. 0.32% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Progressive

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Unique Wealth LLC grew its stake in Progressive by 4.3% in the second quarter. Unique Wealth LLC now owns 1,240 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $271,000 after acquiring an additional 51 shares during the period. Pines Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Progressive by 3.9% in the 4th quarter. Pines Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,399 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $319,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares during the period. Northwestern Mutual Investment Management Company LLC increased its stake in Progressive by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Northwestern Mutual Investment Management Company LLC now owns 18,736 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $4,267,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares in the last quarter. Phillips Wealth Planners LLC increased its stake in Progressive by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. Phillips Wealth Planners LLC now owns 1,916 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $436,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. raised its holdings in Progressive by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. now owns 4,307 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $981,000 after buying an additional 52 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

About Progressive

Progressive Corporation is a large U.S.-based property and casualty insurer that primarily underwrites personal auto insurance along with a broad suite of related products. Its offerings include coverage for private passenger automobiles, commercial auto fleets, motorcycles, boats and recreational vehicles, as well as homeowners, renters, umbrella and other specialty P&C products. Progressive also provides claims handling, risk management and related services to individual and commercial policyholders.

The company distributes its products through a mix of direct channels—online and by phone—and an extensive independent agent network.