Jefferies Financial Group Lowers Progressive (NYSE:PGR) Price Target to $319.00

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) had its price target decreased by Jefferies Financial Group from $327.00 to $319.00 in a report published on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. Jefferies Financial Group currently has a buy rating on the insurance provider’s stock.

PGR has been the topic of several other reports. UBS Group lifted their price target on Progressive from $275.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Progressive from $317.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Progressive from $300.00 to $307.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Roth Mkm boosted their target price on shares of Progressive from $290.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Progressive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $283.71.

Progressive Stock Performance

Shares of PGR opened at $275.78 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $161.67 billion, a PE ratio of 19.15, a P/E/G ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a quick ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 0.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $271.85 and a 200 day moving average price of $257.20. Progressive has a 52-week low of $201.34 and a 52-week high of $292.99.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The insurance provider reported $4.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Progressive will post 14.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 3rd were given a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.15%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 3rd. Progressive’s payout ratio is 2.78%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Progressive news, CAO Carl G. Joyce sold 360 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $276.17, for a total value of $99,421.20. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 655 shares in the company, valued at approximately $180,891.35. This represents a 35.47 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 1,542 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction on Monday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $282.66, for a total transaction of $435,861.72. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 268,024 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $75,759,663.84. This trade represents a 0.57 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 56,317 shares of company stock worth $14,844,282. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its holdings in shares of Progressive by 98.2% during the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 789 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $189,000 after purchasing an additional 391 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in Progressive by 2,262.4% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 433,999 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $103,990,000 after buying an additional 415,628 shares in the last quarter. Signal Advisors Wealth LLC lifted its position in shares of Progressive by 42.3% in the fourth quarter. Signal Advisors Wealth LLC now owns 11,889 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,849,000 after buying an additional 3,534 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its stake in shares of Progressive by 30.5% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,069,697 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $255,882,000 after acquiring an additional 249,958 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas acquired a new position in shares of Progressive during the 3rd quarter valued at about $35,253,000. 85.34% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.