Morgan Stanley Boosts Progressive (NYSE:PGR) Price Target to $247.00

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) had its price objective raised by research analysts at Morgan Stanley from $228.00 to $247.00 in a report issued on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “overweight” rating on the insurance provider’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s target price would suggest a potential upside of 21.15% from the company’s current price.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Progressive from $171.00 to $202.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Progressive from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price target for the company from $144.00 to $176.00 in a report on Monday, December 18th. Bank of America cut their price objective on shares of Progressive from $265.00 to $264.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on Progressive from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. Finally, Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $240.00 target price on shares of Progressive in a research report on Monday, April 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $196.56.

Progressive Trading Up 0.8 %

NYSE PGR opened at $203.88 on Thursday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $197.15 and a 200 day moving average price of $172.68. The stock has a market capitalization of $119.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.98, a P/E/G ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 0.35. The company has a quick ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 0.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. Progressive has a 52-week low of $111.41 and a 52-week high of $212.24.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 12th. The insurance provider reported $3.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.96 by $0.98. The firm had revenue of $18.96 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.88 billion. Progressive had a return on equity of 21.25% and a net margin of 6.28%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 17.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.65 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Progressive will post 10.3 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Karen Bailo sold 8,464 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $189.49, for a total value of $1,603,843.36. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 32,342 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,128,485.58. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other news, insider Patrick K. Callahan sold 29,675 shares of the company’s 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 15,189 shares in the company, valued at $2,889,859.14. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Karen Bailo sold 8,464 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $189.49, for a total transaction of $1,603,843.36. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 32,342 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,128,485.58. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 44,629 shares of company stock valued at $8,348,176 over the last 90 days. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Progressive

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Markel Corp increased its stake in Progressive by 4.1% during the first quarter. Markel Corp now owns 750,750 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $85,578,000 after acquiring an additional 29,750 shares during the period. Roundview Capital LLC lifted its position in Progressive by 0.8% in the first quarter. Roundview Capital LLC now owns 49,086 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $5,595,000 after purchasing an additional 381 shares during the period. Cibc World Market Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Progressive by 3.9% during the 1st quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. now owns 6,693 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $763,000 after acquiring an additional 254 shares during the period. Moors & Cabot Inc. increased its position in shares of Progressive by 8.0% during the 1st quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 3,081 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $351,000 after purchasing an additional 228 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Progressive by 103.5% in the first quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 7,022 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $800,000 after buying an additional 3,571 shares during the last quarter. 85.34% of the stock is currently 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.