Progressive (NYSE:PGR) Given New $246.00 Price Target at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) had its price objective reduced by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $262.00 to $246.00 in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have a market perform rating on the insurance provider’s stock.

PGR has been the topic of several other research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on Progressive from $276.00 to $245.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, October 27th. Morgan Stanley set a $214.00 price objective on shares of Progressive and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 20th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their target price on shares of Progressive from $309.00 to $287.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 11th. Barclays decreased their price objective on Progressive from $271.00 to $257.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, October 20th. Finally, Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of Progressive from $312.00 to $301.38 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 16th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Progressive currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $267.96.

Progressive Trading Down 0.2%

Shares of Progressive stock opened at $209.14 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a quick ratio of 0.31 and a current ratio of 0.32. Progressive has a 1 year low of $199.90 and a 1 year high of $292.99. The company’s fifty day moving average is $234.86 and its two-hundred day moving average is $252.72. The company has a market capitalization of $122.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.47, a PEG ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 0.29.

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

Progressive Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 2nd were given a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 2nd. Progressive’s payout ratio is presently 2.19%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Patrick K. Callahan sold 6,420 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the insider owned 15,192 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,679,806.24. This represents a 29.71% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Steven Broz sold 1,345 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $242.10, for a total value of $325,624.50. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 30,388 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,356,934.80. This represents a 4.24% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 58,500 shares of company stock worth $14,430,089 over the last 90 days. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Progressive

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Progressive during the second quarter worth about $2,156,939,000. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in Progressive during the 1st quarter valued at about $1,473,180,000. GQG Partners LLC grew its position in Progressive by 61.4% in the 1st quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 8,346,133 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,362,039,000 after purchasing an additional 3,174,632 shares during the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. increased its stake in shares of Progressive by 32.8% in the second quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 10,972,574 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,928,141,000 after purchasing an additional 2,709,417 shares during the period. Finally, C WorldWide Group Holding A S raised its holdings in shares of Progressive by 12,110.3% during the first quarter. C WorldWide Group Holding A S now owns 1,248,628 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $353,374,000 after buying an additional 1,238,402 shares during the last quarter. 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.