The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” from Brokerages

The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the twenty-two ratings firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year target price among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $238.3889.

PGR has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $259.00 price objective on shares of Progressive in a research note on Monday, March 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price target on Progressive from $216.00 to $215.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 24th. William Blair downgraded Progressive from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 18th. Zacks Research upgraded Progressive from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 24th. Finally, Mizuho cut their price target on Progressive from $235.00 to $223.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 20th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Progressive news, insider Andrew J. Quigg sold 1,649 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $204.35, for a total value of $336,973.15. Following the sale, the insider owned 39,626 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,097,573.10. The trade was a 4.00% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Maribel Pumarejo sold 739 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $203.25, for a total value of $150,201.75. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 11,687 shares of company stock valued at $2,413,044. Corporate insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund raised its stake in Progressive by 30.2% in the 3rd quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 102,778 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $25,381,000 after purchasing an additional 23,833 shares during the last quarter. Allstate Corp grew its holdings in shares of Progressive by 1,614.1% during the third quarter. Allstate Corp now owns 21,598 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $5,334,000 after buying an additional 20,338 shares in the last quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC grew its holdings in shares of Progressive by 91.7% during the third quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC now owns 11,710 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,892,000 after buying an additional 5,600 shares in the last quarter. Mather Group LLC. raised its position in shares of Progressive by 40.6% in the third quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 16,840 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $4,159,000 after buying an additional 4,865 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Arkadios Wealth Advisors raised its position in shares of Progressive by 471.3% in the third quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors now owns 22,496 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $5,556,000 after buying an additional 18,558 shares during the last quarter. 85.34% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Progressive Stock Performance

Shares of PGR opened at $195.14 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.35, a quick ratio of 0.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23. The firm has a market cap of $114.15 billion, a PE ratio of 10.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.65 and a beta of 0.34. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $204.94 and its 200-day simple moving average is $217.92. Progressive has a 12-month low of $192.02 and a 12-month high of $289.96.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 2nd will be paid a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 2nd. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 2.08%.

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.