Progressive (NYSE:PGR) Stock Rating Lowered by Bank of America

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) was downgraded by research analysts at Bank of America from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Friday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. They currently have a $287.00 price objective on the insurance provider’s stock, down from their prior price objective of $300.00. Bank of America‘s price target would indicate a potential upside of 11.56% from the stock’s current price.

Several other research firms also recently commented on PGR. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price target on shares of Progressive from $273.00 to $267.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, December 16th. HSBC cut shares of Progressive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $267.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Progressive from $313.00 to $317.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Hsbc Global Res downgraded Progressive from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Roth Mkm raised their price target on Progressive from $290.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Progressive currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $280.29.

Progressive Trading Down 10.4 %

Shares of PGR opened at $257.27 on Friday. 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 company has a market capitalization of $150.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.87, a P/E/G ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.38. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $269.14 and its 200 day simple moving average is $256.74.

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

Insider Transactions at Progressive

In other Progressive news, insider Andrew J. Quigg sold 962 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $243.29, for a total value of $234,044.98. Following the sale, the insider now owns 34,787 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,463,329.23. This represents a 2.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Mariann Wojtkun Marshall sold 585 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $243.29, for a total transaction of $142,324.65. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 3,983 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $969,024.07. The trade was a 12.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 56,317 shares of company stock valued at $14,844,282. Corporate insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

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 fourth quarter valued at $1,843,045,000. GQG Partners LLC increased its stake in Progressive by 67.6% during the 4th quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 5,171,501 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,239,143,000 after purchasing an additional 2,085,833 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Progressive in the fourth quarter worth about $408,416,000. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Progressive by 13.2% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,425,792 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $3,652,235,000 after buying an additional 1,682,213 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors grew its holdings in shares of Progressive by 34.3% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 6,058,187 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,451,602,000 after buying an additional 1,547,677 shares during the last quarter. 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.