Progressive (NYSE:PGR) Price Target Lowered to $265.00 at Morgan Stanley

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) had its price target reduced by Morgan Stanley from $267.00 to $265.00 in a research report report published on Monday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have an equal weight rating on the insurance provider’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. Barclays decreased their target price on Progressive from $287.00 to $281.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, August 19th. UBS Group decreased their target price on Progressive from $280.00 to $268.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, July 21st. Citigroup reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Progressive in a research report on Friday, August 29th. BMO Capital Markets set a $252.00 price target on Progressive in a report on Thursday. Finally, Wolfe Research initiated coverage on Progressive in a report on Monday, September 15th. They set a “peer perform” rating for the company. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Progressive currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $279.31.

Progressive Trading Down 0.4%

Shares of NYSE PGR opened at $241.26 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $141.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.59, a PEG ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.32. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $245.70 and a 200 day simple moving average of $262.95. Progressive has a 52 week low of $228.54 and a 52 week high of $292.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 0.31 and a current ratio of 0.31.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 16th. The insurance provider reported $4.88 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.43 by $0.45. The business had revenue of $20.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $20.39 billion. Progressive had a return on equity of 35.37% and a net margin of 12.66%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.48 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Progressive will post 14.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 2nd will be issued a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 2nd. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio is presently 2.25%.

Insider Activity at Progressive

In related news, insider Lori A. Niederst sold 8,063 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.18, for a total value of $2,017,201.34. Following the transaction, the insider owned 39,040 shares in the company, valued at $9,767,027.20. This trade represents a 17.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Susan Patricia Griffith sold 30,659 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $246.06, for a total value of $7,543,953.54. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 476,286 shares in the company, valued at approximately $117,194,933.16. This represents a 6.05% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 140,045 shares of company stock valued at $34,635,290. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Progressive

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Progressive by 0.9% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 54,516,288 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $14,548,217,000 after acquiring an additional 493,332 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Progressive by 2.0% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 15,513,188 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $4,128,055,000 after buying an additional 301,371 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P. lifted its stake in Progressive by 32.8% in the second quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 10,972,574 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,928,141,000 after buying an additional 2,709,417 shares during the period. GQG Partners LLC lifted its stake in Progressive by 61.4% in the first quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 8,346,133 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,362,039,000 after buying an additional 3,174,632 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in Progressive in the second quarter valued at about $2,156,939,000. 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.