Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Lowers Progressive (NYSE:PGR) Price Target to $288.00

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) had its price objective lowered by equities research analysts at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $300.00 to $288.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “outperform” rating on the insurance provider’s stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods’ target price indicates a potential upside of 11.35% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on PGR. Hsbc Global Res cut shares of Progressive from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Roth Mkm upped their price objective on shares of Progressive from $290.00 to $315.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. UBS Group lifted their target price on Progressive from $275.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, March 14th. HSBC lowered Progressive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $267.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Progressive from $313.00 to $317.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Progressive currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $281.41.

Progressive Price Performance

Progressive stock traded down $1.74 on Wednesday, reaching $258.64. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 829,256 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,632,737. Progressive has a twelve month low of $201.34 and a twelve month high of $292.99. The company has a market cap of $151.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.95, a PEG ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a current ratio of 0.31. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $269.90 and its 200 day moving average price is $256.77.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The insurance provider reported $4.08 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.44 by $0.64. Progressive had a net margin of 11.25% and a return on equity of 33.79%. Equities analysts expect that Progressive will post 14.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Progressive

In other news, CEO Susan Patricia Griffith sold 11,021 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $243.29, for a total transaction of $2,681,299.09. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 473,736 shares in the company, valued at $115,255,231.44. The trade was a 2.27 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Carl G. Joyce sold 360 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $276.17, for a total transaction of $99,421.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 655 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $180,891.35. This trade represents a 35.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 56,317 shares of company stock worth $14,844,282 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Progressive

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of PGR. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Progressive during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,843,045,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in shares of Progressive by 39,285.0% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,046,037 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $862,059,000 after purchasing an additional 3,038,303 shares during the last quarter. GQG Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Progressive by 67.6% in the fourth quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 5,171,501 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,239,143,000 after purchasing an additional 2,085,833 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Progressive during the 4th quarter worth about $408,416,000. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors boosted its holdings in shares of Progressive by 34.3% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 6,058,187 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,451,602,000 after buying an additional 1,547,677 shares during the period. Institutional investors 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.