Bank of America Increases Progressive (NYSE:PGR) Price Target to $351.00

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) had its target price upped by equities researchers at Bank of America from $350.00 to $351.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “buy” rating on the insurance provider’s stock. Bank of America‘s price target indicates a potential upside of 55.61% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other analysts have also recently commented on PGR. Evercore ISI cut their price target on shares of Progressive from $275.00 to $273.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 1st. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Progressive from $265.00 to $266.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price target on shares of Progressive from $309.00 to $287.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 11th. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on shares of Progressive from $267.00 to $265.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, September 22nd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on shares of Progressive from $268.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 18th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and thirteen have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $274.46.

Progressive Price Performance

Shares of NYSE PGR opened at $225.57 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $132.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.37, a PEG ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a current ratio of 0.32 and a quick ratio of 0.31. The business has a 50-day moving average of $243.73 and a 200-day moving average of $258.06. Progressive has a fifty-two week low of $217.20 and a fifty-two week high of $292.99.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 15th. The insurance provider reported $4.45 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.04 by ($0.59). The firm had revenue of $21.38 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $21.64 billion. Progressive had a net margin of 12.57% and a return on equity of 33.88%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $3.58 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Progressive will post 14.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Karen Bailo sold 8,922 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.24, for a total value of $2,223,719.28. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 32,346 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,061,917.04. This represents a 21.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Susan Patricia Griffith sold 30,660 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $242.12, for a total transaction of $7,423,399.20. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 506,945 shares in the company, valued at approximately $122,741,523.40. This represents a 5.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 128,778 shares of company stock valued at $31,683,756. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Progressive

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Baron Silver Stevens Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in Progressive during the second quarter worth about $306,000. Trust Co. of Oklahoma bought a new position in Progressive during the second quarter worth about $439,000. Belmont Capital LLC bought a new position in Progressive during the first quarter worth about $580,000. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI increased its position in Progressive by 87.9% during the first quarter. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI now owns 414,183 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $117,218,000 after acquiring an additional 193,800 shares during the period. Finally, Mitchell Capital Management Co. bought a new position in Progressive during the second quarter worth about $2,721,000. 85.34% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.