Progressive (NYSE:PGR) Hits New 52-Week High Following Analyst Upgrade

The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)’s share price hit a new 52-week high during trading on Friday after TD Cowen raised their price target on the stock from $197.00 to $237.00. TD Cowen currently has a hold rating on the stock. Progressive traded as high as $262.85 and last traded at $262.32, with a volume of 318050 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $255.27.

PGR has been the topic of several other reports. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on Progressive from $257.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price target on Progressive from $239.00 to $237.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Progressive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Progressive from $267.00 to $277.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on Progressive from $262.00 to $280.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $269.56.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Susan Patricia Griffith sold 43,370 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $252.20, for a total value of $10,937,914.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 473,735 shares in the company, valued at approximately $119,475,967. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Susan Patricia Griffith sold 43,370 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $252.20, for a total value of $10,937,914.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 473,735 shares in the company, valued at approximately $119,475,967. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Steven Broz sold 2,981 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $251.15, for a total value of $748,678.15. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 26,353 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,618,555.95. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 74,843 shares of company stock valued at $18,674,912 in the last quarter. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Progressive

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Progressive by 0.6% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 51,751,851 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $10,703,318,000 after acquiring an additional 285,070 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors boosted its stake in shares of Progressive by 15.7% in the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 4,925,019 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,018,592,000 after purchasing an additional 670,006 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc grew its stake in shares of Progressive by 1.9% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 4,922,743 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,022,507,000 after acquiring an additional 92,212 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake in Progressive by 3.0% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 2,392,773 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $497,003,000 after purchasing an additional 69,709 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Swiss National Bank lifted its stake in Progressive by 0.3% in the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 1,738,400 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $441,136,000 after acquiring an additional 4,400 shares during the last quarter. 85.34% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Progressive Stock Up 2.5 %

The firm has a fifty day moving average of $251.12 and a 200 day moving average of $227.59. The stock has a market cap of $153.24 billion, a PE ratio of 18.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 0.36. The company has a quick ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 0.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 15th. The insurance provider reported $3.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.40 by $0.18. The company had revenue of $19.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $18.95 billion. Progressive had a net margin of 11.27% and a return on equity of 33.10%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that The Progressive Co. will post 13.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Company Profile

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.