BMO Capital Markets Cuts Progressive (NYSE:PGR) Price Target to $253.00

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) had its price objective reduced by stock analysts at BMO Capital Markets from $256.00 to $253.00 in a report issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “market perform” rating on the insurance provider’s stock. BMO Capital Markets’ price target indicates a potential upside of 11.33% from the stock’s previous close.

Other research analysts have also issued research reports about the company. Barclays decreased their target price on Progressive from $271.00 to $257.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 20th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Progressive from $246.00 to $247.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 20th. Bank of America dropped their target price on shares of Progressive from $350.00 to $348.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, December 9th. Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of Progressive from $301.38 to $300.60 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. Finally, Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Progressive from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Progressive has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $264.74.

Progressive Price Performance

PGR opened at $227.25 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $133.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.47, a PEG ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 0.36. The company has a 50-day moving average of $223.42 and a 200-day moving average of $241.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a quick ratio of 0.29 and a current ratio of 0.29. Progressive has a 1-year low of $199.90 and a 1-year high of $292.99.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 15th. The insurance provider reported $4.45 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.04 by ($0.59). The firm had revenue of $21.38 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $21.64 billion. Progressive had a return on equity of 33.88% and a net margin of 12.57%.During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.58 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Progressive will post 14.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other Progressive news, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 5,000 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction on Friday, November 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $228.48, for a total transaction of $1,142,400.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 223,024 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $50,956,523.52. The trade was a 2.19% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Patrick K. Callahan sold 6,420 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $242.22, for a total value of $1,555,052.40. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 15,192 shares in the company, valued at $3,679,806.24. This trade represents a 29.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 17,673 shares of company stock worth $4,163,005 over the last ninety days. 0.34% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Progressive

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Progressive by 0.3% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 54,667,528 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $13,500,146,000 after acquiring an additional 151,240 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in Progressive by 0.3% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 25,808,762 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $6,373,474,000 after purchasing an additional 78,374 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Progressive by 2.0% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 15,513,188 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $4,128,055,000 after purchasing an additional 301,371 shares during the period. Capital International Investors boosted its stake in Progressive by 78.9% during the 3rd quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 13,704,197 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $3,384,082,000 after purchasing an additional 6,045,732 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors increased its position in shares of Progressive by 26.1% during the 3rd quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 11,167,940 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,757,905,000 after purchasing an additional 2,314,864 shares during the period. 85.34% of the stock is currently owned by 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.