Progressive (NYSE:PGR) Releases Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.64 EPS

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday. The insurance provider reported $4.08 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.44 by $0.64, Zacks reports. Progressive had a net margin of 11.25% and a return on equity of 34.32%.

Progressive Stock Performance

Shares of PGR opened at $249.20 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $145.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.31, a P/E/G ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 0.41. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $247.40 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $244.30. Progressive has a 12 month low of $176.37 and a 12 month high of $270.62. The company has a current ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The company 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.16%. Progressive’s payout ratio is currently 2.78%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on PGR. Bank of America upped their price objective on Progressive from $331.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 18th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on shares of Progressive from $257.00 to $295.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. TD Cowen upped their price target on shares of Progressive from $197.00 to $237.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Progressive from $302.00 to $313.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their price target on Progressive from $277.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $275.29.

Insider Transactions at Progressive

In other Progressive news, Director Jeffrey D. Kelly sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total transaction of $2,500,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 27,741 shares in the company, valued at $6,935,250. The trade was a 26.50 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Mariann Wojtkun Marshall sold 191 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 owns 3,982 shares in the company, valued at $964,042.20. This trade represents a 4.58 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 52,506 shares of company stock worth $13,031,159 over the last quarter. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.