Progressive (NYSE:PGR) Lowered to “Neutral” Rating by Bank of America

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) was downgraded by analysts at Bank of America from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report released on Friday,Briefing.com Automated Import reports. They presently have a $287.00 price objective on the insurance provider’s stock. Bank of America‘s price target would suggest a potential upside of 0.08% from the company’s current price.

PGR has been the subject of a number of other reports. Hsbc Global Res downgraded Progressive from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Progressive from $251.00 to $256.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Progressive from $275.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, March 14th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on shares of Progressive from $294.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on Progressive from $264.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Progressive has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $280.29.

Progressive Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:PGR opened at $286.78 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $168.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.92, a P/E/G ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.38. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $268.77 and a 200 day moving average price of $256.73. Progressive has a fifty-two week low of $201.34 and a fifty-two week high of $292.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a current ratio of 0.31.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The insurance provider reported $4.08 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%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Progressive will post 14.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Progressive

In other news, CAO Carl G. Joyce sold 360 shares of the firm’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 transaction of $99,421.20. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 655 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $180,891.35. This trade represents a 35.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Andrew J. Quigg sold 962 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $243.29, for a total value of $234,044.98. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 34,787 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,463,329.23. The trade was a 2.69 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 56,317 shares of company stock worth $14,844,282 in the last 90 days. 0.33% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Progressive

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Webster Bank N. A. purchased a new stake in Progressive in the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Hager Investment Management Services LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Progressive in the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. Minot DeBlois Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Progressive during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Atlantic Edge Private Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Progressive by 54.7% during the fourth quarter. Atlantic Edge Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 116 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Valley National Advisers Inc. increased its holdings in Progressive by 3,000.0% during the fourth quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 124 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 120 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other 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.