Brokerages Set The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) PT at $281.76

Shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) have been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the eighteen ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and twelve have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month price target among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $281.06.

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Hsbc Global Res cut Progressive from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on Progressive from $273.00 to $267.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, December 16th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Progressive from $300.00 to $307.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Progressive from $251.00 to $256.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Bank of America reduced their price objective on shares of Progressive from $318.00 to $300.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday.

Progressive Price Performance

Shares of NYSE PGR opened at $273.08 on Tuesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $261.96 and a 200 day moving average price of $255.01. Progressive has a 1-year low of $201.34 and a 1-year high of $292.99. 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 company has a market cap of $160.08 billion, a PE ratio of 18.96, a P/E/G ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.35.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The insurance provider reported $4.08 EPS for the quarter, topping 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%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Progressive will post 14.68 EPS for the current year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.15%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 3rd. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio is presently 2.78%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Progressive

In other Progressive news, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 1,542 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $282.66, for a total value of $435,861.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 268,024 shares in the company, valued at approximately $75,759,663.84. The trade was a 0.57 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CIO Jonathan S. Bauer sold 1,696 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $282.66, for a total value of $479,391.36. Following the sale, the executive now owns 26,697 shares in the company, valued at $7,546,174.02. This trade represents a 5.97 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 65,495 shares of company stock worth $16,668,034. Corporate insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of PGR. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Progressive during the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,843,045,000. GQG Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Progressive by 67.6% during the 4th quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 5,171,501 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,239,143,000 after buying an additional 2,085,833 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Progressive in the 4th quarter worth $408,416,000. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Progressive by 13.2% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,425,792 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $3,652,235,000 after acquiring an additional 1,682,213 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors grew its position in Progressive by 34.3% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 6,058,187 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,451,602,000 after acquiring an additional 1,547,677 shares during the period. 85.34% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.