The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eighteen research firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price target among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $281.06.

A number of research firms have issued reports on PGR. Morgan Stanley boosted 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. Bank of America lowered their price target on Progressive from $318.00 to $300.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Roth Mkm lifted their price objective on Progressive from $290.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on Progressive from $273.00 to $267.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Progressive from $313.00 to $317.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th.

Progressive Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of PGR stock opened at $274.07 on Tuesday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $262.72 and a 200 day moving average of $255.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 0.31 and a quick ratio of 0.30. Progressive has a 1-year low of $201.34 and a 1-year high of $292.99. The stock has a market capitalization of $160.66 billion, a PE ratio of 19.03, a P/E/G ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.35.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The insurance provider reported $4.08 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.44 by $0.64. Progressive had a return on equity of 33.79% and a net margin of 11.25%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Progressive will post 14.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be given a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.15%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 3rd. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio is presently 2.78%.

Insider Activity at Progressive

In other Progressive news, CAO Mariann Wojtkun Marshall sold 191 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, January 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $242.10, for a total transaction of $46,241.10. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 3,982 shares in the company, valued at approximately $964,042.20. This trade represents a 4.58 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $238.66, for a total value of $2,386,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 282,958 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $67,530,756.28. This represents a 3.41 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 65,855 shares of company stock valued at $16,767,455. 0.34% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Progressive

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted 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 buying an additional 391 shares during the period. Townsquare Capital LLC grew its stake in shares of Progressive by 90.9% during the 3rd quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 7,813 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,983,000 after purchasing an additional 3,720 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its position in shares of Progressive by 7.0% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 5,067,924 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,286,036,000 after purchasing an additional 330,667 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its stake in shares of Progressive by 2,262.4% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 433,999 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $103,990,000 after purchasing an additional 415,628 shares during the period. Finally, Signal Advisors Wealth LLC boosted its holdings 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. 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.