The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Shares of The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the seventeen ratings firms that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price target among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $287.63.

Several research firms recently issued reports on PGR. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Progressive from $328.00 to $333.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, June 20th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Progressive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price objective on Progressive from $290.00 to $268.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of Progressive from $290.00 to $280.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, July 14th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Progressive from $267.00 to $287.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider John Jo Murphy sold 4,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $260.38, for a total value of $1,041,520.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 41,289 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,750,829.82. The trade was a 8.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $263.79, for a total transaction of $2,637,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 228,024 shares in the company, valued at approximately $60,150,450.96. The trade was a 4.20% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 42,705 shares of company stock worth $11,450,948. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Progressive

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Progressive in the fourth quarter valued at $1,843,045,000. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in shares of Progressive in the 1st quarter worth $1,473,180,000. GQG Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Progressive by 61.4% in the 1st quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 8,346,133 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,362,039,000 after buying an additional 3,174,632 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in shares of Progressive by 39,285.0% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,046,037 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $862,059,000 after buying an additional 3,038,303 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors raised its position in shares of Progressive by 34.3% during the 4th 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 in the last quarter. 85.34% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Progressive Stock Performance

NYSE:PGR opened at $246.48 on Monday. Progressive has a 1-year low of $208.13 and a 1-year high of $292.99. The company has a market capitalization of $144.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.89, a PEG ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 0.37. The business has a 50 day moving average of $267.67 and a 200 day moving average of $266.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 0.34 and a quick ratio of 0.29.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 16th. The insurance provider reported $4.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $20.39 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.48 EPS. Progressive’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Progressive will post 14.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 11th. Investors of record on Friday, July 4th were issued a $0.10 dividend. This represents a yield of 0.15%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 3rd. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio is 2.25%.

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.