Evercore ISI Downgrades Progressive (NYSE:PGR) to In-Line

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) was downgraded by research analysts at Evercore ISI from an “outperform” rating to an “in-line” rating in a report issued on Thursday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. They presently have a $275.00 price objective on the insurance provider’s stock. Evercore ISI’s price objective would indicate a potential upside of 11.57% from the stock’s previous close.

PGR has been the subject of several other reports. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on Progressive from $282.00 to $288.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Wall Street Zen raised Progressive from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, June 21st. Bank of America raised Progressive from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $312.00 price target for the company in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price target on Progressive from $327.00 to $319.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Progressive from $267.00 to $287.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Progressive has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $287.63.

Progressive Stock Performance

Shares of PGR opened at $246.48 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 0.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. The company has a market capitalization of $144.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.89, a PEG ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 0.37. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $267.67 and a 200 day moving average of $265.73. Progressive has a 12 month low of $208.13 and a 12 month high of $292.99.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 16th. The insurance provider reported $4.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.43 by $0.45. Progressive had a return on equity of 35.37% and a net margin of 12.66%. The business had revenue of $20.08 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $20.39 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.48 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Progressive will post 14.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $263.79, for a total value of $2,637,900.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 228,024 shares in the company, valued at approximately $60,150,450.96. This trade represents a 4.20% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider John Jo Murphy sold 4,000 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction on Friday, June 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $260.38, for a total transaction of $1,041,520.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 41,289 shares in the company, valued at $10,750,829.82. This represents a 8.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 42,705 shares of company stock worth $11,450,948. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Highline Wealth Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Progressive by 114.0% in the first quarter. Highline Wealth Partners LLC now owns 92 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 49 shares in the last quarter. TruNorth Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Progressive by 210.0% in the first quarter. TruNorth Capital Management LLC now owns 93 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 63 shares in the last quarter. Minot DeBlois Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Progressive in the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. HWG Holdings LP purchased a new stake in shares of Progressive in the first quarter valued at about $28,000. Finally, Garde Capital Inc. purchased a new stake in Progressive during the first quarter worth about $33,000. 85.34% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Progressive Company Profile

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.