Progressive (NYSE:PGR) Lowered to “Hold” Rating by StockNews.com

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) was downgraded by research analysts at StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report released on Wednesday.

PGR has been the topic of a number of other reports. HSBC lowered shares of Progressive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $267.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Progressive from $302.00 to $313.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on Progressive from $277.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut 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. Finally, Raymond James upgraded shares of Progressive from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $305.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 26th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Progressive currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $275.71.

Progressive Stock Up 0.4 %

PGR stock traded up $0.99 on Wednesday, hitting $248.99. 1,508,478 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,567,690. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $246.28 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $245.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a current ratio of 0.31. Progressive has a 12-month low of $179.90 and a 12-month high of $270.62. The stock has a market cap of $145.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.63 and a beta of 0.42.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The insurance provider reported $4.08 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.44 by $0.64. Progressive had a net margin of 11.25% and a return on equity of 33.79%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Progressive will post 14.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other Progressive news, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $238.66, for a total transaction of $2,386,600.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 282,958 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $67,530,756.28. This trade represents a 3.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 473,736 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $114,691,485.60. This represents a 1.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 56,361 shares of company stock worth $13,983,575 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Progressive

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of PGR. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Progressive by 5.9% in the 4th quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 858 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $206,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. Kinsale Capital Group Inc. raised its position in Progressive by 9.4% in the fourth quarter. Kinsale Capital Group Inc. now owns 37,870 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $9,074,000 after purchasing an additional 3,259 shares during the period. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Progressive by 31.1% in the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 4,367 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,046,000 after buying an additional 1,037 shares during the period. Nixon Peabody Trust Co. lifted its position in Progressive by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. Nixon Peabody Trust Co. now owns 3,756 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $900,000 after buying an additional 96 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Providence First Trust Co acquired a new position in shares of Progressive in the 4th quarter worth approximately $188,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

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.