Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Reaffirms Outperform Rating for Progressive (NYSE:PGR)

Progressive (NYSE:PGR)‘s stock had its “outperform” rating restated by investment analysts at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods in a research report issued on Friday, September 18th, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $250.00 price target on the insurance provider’s stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods’ target price points to a potential upside of 21.70% from the stock’s previous close.

PGR has been the topic of several other reports. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $230.00 price objective on shares of Progressive in a research report on Wednesday, August 19th. Cantor Fitzgerald lowered their price objective on shares of Progressive from $220.00 to $200.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 17th. Roth Capital reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $245.00 price objective on shares of Progressive in a research report on Thursday, August 20th. William Blair reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Progressive in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Progressive in a research report on Wednesday, August 19th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $234.89.

Progressive Price Performance

Progressive stock traded up $3.25 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $205.42. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,826,712 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,108,058. The company has a quick ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 0.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. The stock has a market capitalization of $119.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.30, a P/E/G ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 0.27. Progressive has a twelve month low of $189.20 and a twelve month high of $248.17. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $214.29 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $208.35.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 15th. The insurance provider reported $5.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.64 by $1.03. Progressive had a net margin of 12.84% and a return on equity of 32.92%. The firm had revenue of $23.61 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $19.49 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $5.40 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Progressive will post 17.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Steven Broz sold 1,225 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $219.40, for a total value of $268,765.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 31,257 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,857,785.80. The trade was a 3.77% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Susan Griffith sold 37,338 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $219.50, for a total transaction of $8,195,691.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 485,438 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $106,553,641. The trade was a 7.14% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 105,557 shares of company stock worth $22,715,077 in the last 90 days. 0.32% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Bank of Nova Scotia bought a new stake in shares of Progressive during the 2nd quarter valued at $76,260,000. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Progressive by 2.5% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 26,526,959 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $5,794,814,000 after buying an additional 656,249 shares in the last quarter. Allstate Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Progressive by 106.1% during the 4th quarter. Allstate Corp now owns 44,513 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $10,136,000 after buying an additional 22,915 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Progressive during the 4th quarter valued at $1,836,094,000. Finally, Callan Family Office LLC bought a new position in Progressive in the 2nd quarter worth about $3,025,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

About Progressive

Progressive Corporation, founded in 1937 and headquartered in Mayfield Village, Ohio, is an insurance company that primarily serves customers in the United States. The company is best known for its personal and commercial auto insurance businesses and distributes products through independent agents, direct channels and digital platforms.

Progressive offers a broad range of insurance products, including coverage for automobiles, motorcycles, boats, recreational vehicles, homes and renters.