Bank of America Cuts Progressive (NYSE:PGR) Price Target to $273.00

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) had its price target trimmed by Bank of America from $279.00 to $273.00 in a report issued on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a buy rating on the insurance provider’s stock.

Other research analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on Progressive from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a market perform rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on Progressive from $241.00 to $245.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Monday, April 15th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on Progressive from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a report on Thursday, January 25th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Progressive from $228.00 to $247.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, TD Cowen began coverage on Progressive in a report on Wednesday, January 10th. They issued a market perform rating and a $174.00 price objective on the stock. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $211.88.

Progressive Price Performance

Shares of NYSE PGR opened at $214.69 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $199.92 and its two-hundred day moving average is $175.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 0.36 and a quick ratio of 0.31. Progressive has a 1-year low of $111.41 and a 1-year high of $215.18. The company has a market cap of $125.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.83 and a beta of 0.35.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 12th. The insurance provider reported $3.94 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.20 by $0.74. Progressive had a return on equity of 29.43% and a net margin of 8.89%. The company had revenue of $18.96 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.88 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.65 EPS. Progressive’s revenue was up 17.7% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Progressive will post 11.22 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 4th were given a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, April 3rd. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.19%. Progressive’s payout ratio is 4.09%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Progressive news, insider Patrick K. Callahan sold 29,675 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.26, for a total transaction of $5,645,965.50. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 15,189 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,889,859.14. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, insider Karen Bailo sold 8,464 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $189.49, for a total value of $1,603,843.36. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 32,342 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,128,485.58. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Patrick K. Callahan sold 29,675 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.26, for a total value of $5,645,965.50. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 15,189 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,889,859.14. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 39,139 shares of company stock valued at $7,458,139. 0.34% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Progressive

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Progressive during the fourth quarter worth $1,078,831,000. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Progressive during the fourth quarter worth $840,885,000. Viking Global Investors LP raised its holdings in Progressive by 412.0% during the fourth quarter. Viking Global Investors LP now owns 5,863,559 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $933,948,000 after purchasing an additional 4,718,237 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in Progressive by 14.1% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 21,554,503 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $3,002,542,000 after purchasing an additional 2,666,449 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised its holdings in Progressive by 25.4% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 6,721,345 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $871,826,000 after purchasing an additional 1,361,665 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.