Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Progressive (NYSE:PGR) Stock

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) had its target price raised by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $294.00 to $300.00 in a report published on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an outperform rating on the insurance provider’s stock.

A number of other research analysts have also recently commented on PGR. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Progressive from $275.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, March 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target 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. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Progressive from $300.00 to $307.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Progressive from $313.00 to $317.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on shares of Progressive from $264.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 13th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $281.06.

Progressive Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of Progressive stock opened at $273.08 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $261.96 and its 200-day moving average price is $255.01. The company has a market cap of $160.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.96, a PEG ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.35. Progressive has a 12-month low of $201.34 and a 12-month high of $292.99.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The insurance provider reported $4.08 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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%. On average, equities analysts expect that Progressive will post 14.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Progressive

In other news, CAO Mariann Wojtkun Marshall sold 191 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $242.10, for a total transaction of $46,241.10. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 3,982 shares in the company, valued at approximately $964,042.20. The trade was a 4.58 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $238.66, for a total transaction of $2,386,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 282,958 shares in the company, valued at approximately $67,530,756.28. The trade was a 3.41 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 65,495 shares of company stock valued at $16,668,034. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Progressive

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. 111 Capital bought a new position in Progressive in the 4th quarter worth about $4,134,000. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC raised its position in Progressive by 36.4% in the 4th quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 175,853 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $42,136,000 after buying an additional 46,915 shares during the last quarter. TFR Capital LLC. purchased a new position in Progressive in the 4th quarter worth about $1,712,000. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH purchased a new position in Progressive in the 4th quarter worth about $118,434,000. Finally, Employees Retirement System of Texas raised its position in Progressive by 112.0% in the 4th quarter. Employees Retirement System of Texas now owns 34,541 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $8,276,000 after buying an additional 18,250 shares during the last quarter. 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.