Progressive (NYSE:PGR) Upgraded by StockNews.com to “Buy” Rating

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Progressive (NYSE:PGR) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report released on Thursday.

PGR has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Progressive from $300.00 to $307.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Raymond James raised shares of Progressive from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $305.00 price target for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 26th. Bank of America raised their price target on shares of Progressive from $331.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 18th. Barclays decreased their price objective on Progressive from $277.00 to $261.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, HSBC cut Progressive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $267.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $275.71.

Progressive Trading Up 2.0 %

Shares of Progressive stock opened at $262.02 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 0.31 and a quick ratio of 0.30. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $244.79 and its 200-day simple moving average is $246.64. The stock has a market cap of $153.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.20, a P/E/G ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 0.42. Progressive has a 1-year low of $182.23 and a 1-year high of $270.62.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The insurance provider reported $4.08 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.44 by $0.64. Progressive had a return on equity of 33.79% and a net margin of 11.25%. Analysts predict that Progressive will post 14.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 16th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 9th were issued a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.15%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 10th. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 2.78%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Mariann Wojtkun Marshall sold 191 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $242.10, for a total transaction of $46,241.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 3,982 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $964,042.20. The trade was a 4.58 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $268.09, for a total value of $2,680,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 292,958 shares in the company, valued at $78,539,110.22. This represents a 3.30 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 56,361 shares of company stock valued at $13,983,575 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Progressive

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co grew its holdings in Progressive by 7.0% during the 4th quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 657,848 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $157,674,000 after acquiring an additional 43,184 shares in the last quarter. Tobias Financial Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Progressive during the 4th quarter worth $205,000. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board grew its stake in shares of Progressive by 64.0% during the fourth quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 530,829 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $127,192,000 after purchasing an additional 207,233 shares in the last quarter. First Commonwealth Financial Corp PA purchased a new position in Progressive in the fourth quarter valued at $221,000. Finally, Zacks Investment Management raised its stake in Progressive by 18.3% in the fourth quarter. Zacks Investment Management now owns 1,088 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $261,000 after buying an additional 168 shares in the last quarter. 85.34% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.