Progressive (NYSE:PGR) Hits New 12-Month High After Analyst Upgrade

The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Wednesday after Morgan Stanley raised their price target on the stock from $310.00 to $320.00. Morgan Stanley currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Progressive traded as high as $282.60 and last traded at $281.81, with a volume of 3123694 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $276.31.

Several other equities analysts have also issued reports on the stock. StockNews.com lowered shares of Progressive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, April 4th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated a “market perform” rating and set a $288.00 price objective on shares of Progressive in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Barclays increased their target price on Progressive from $285.00 to $297.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Progressive from $320.00 to $324.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, Roth Mkm increased their price objective on shares of Progressive from $290.00 to $315.00 and gave the company 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 issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $287.41.

Insider Buying and Selling at Progressive

In other news, CIO Jonathan S. Bauer sold 1,227 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $281.00, for a total transaction of $344,787.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive now owns 28,393 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,978,433. The trade was a 4.14 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Patrick K. Callahan sold 4,669 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $279.70, for a total value of $1,305,919.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 15,191 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,248,922.70. This represents a 23.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 39,894 shares of company stock worth $11,020,097 in the last three months. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in PGR. Morse Asset Management Inc bought a new position in shares of Progressive in the third quarter worth approximately $55,000. Virtu Financial LLC bought a new position in Progressive in the 3rd quarter worth $2,566,000. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Progressive by 2.2% in the 3rd quarter. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC now owns 8,054 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,044,000 after buying an additional 171 shares during the period. Anchor Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in Progressive by 55.0% during the third quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 1,583 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $402,000 after acquiring an additional 562 shares during the period. Finally, World Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Progressive by 99.0% in the third quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 3,307 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $839,000 after acquiring an additional 1,645 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Progressive Stock Performance

The business has a 50 day moving average price of $274.61 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $258.75. The stock has a market cap of $165.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a quick ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 0.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 16th. The insurance provider reported $4.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.28 by $0.37. Progressive had a net margin of 11.25% and a return on equity of 33.79%. The business had revenue of $22.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $21.87 billion. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that The Progressive Co. will post 14.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd were paid a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.14%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 3rd. Progressive’s payout ratio is currently 2.70%.

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.