The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) Receives $238.39 Consensus Target Price from Analysts

The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) has received a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the twenty-two research firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, fourteen have given a hold recommendation and six have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month price target among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $238.3889.

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price objective on Progressive from $227.00 to $210.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 7th. Evercore reissued a “negative” rating on shares of Progressive in a research note on Wednesday, March 18th. Zacks Research raised Progressive from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 24th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Progressive from $215.00 to $218.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on Progressive from $208.00 to $221.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 16th.

Progressive Stock Down 0.5%

Shares of PGR stock opened at $203.02 on Friday. Progressive has a 1 year low of $191.75 and a 1 year high of $289.96. The stock has a market cap of $118.63 billion, a PE ratio of 10.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.90 and a beta of 0.31. The business’s fifty day moving average is $200.73 and its 200-day moving average is $210.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 0.27 and a current ratio of 0.27.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 15th. The insurance provider reported $4.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.67 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $22.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $23.51 billion. Progressive had a return on equity of 33.47% and a net margin of 12.92%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $4.37 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Progressive will post 16.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 2nd will be issued a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 2nd. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.2%. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio is 2.03%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CIO Jonathan S. Bauer sold 2,266 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $203.05, for a total transaction of $460,111.30. Following the sale, the executive directly owned 26,250 shares in the company, valued at $5,330,062.50. This represents a 7.95% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Karen Bailo sold 3,517 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $212.00, for a total value of $745,604.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 32,348 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,857,776. This trade represents a 9.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last quarter, insiders sold 6,933 shares of company stock valued at $1,441,564. 0.32% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Progressive in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,836,094,000. Capital International Investors lifted its holdings in shares of Progressive by 78.9% in the third quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 13,704,197 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $3,384,082,000 after purchasing an additional 6,045,732 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in shares of Progressive by 181.8% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 6,506,302 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,481,615,000 after purchasing an additional 4,197,212 shares in the last quarter. Diamant Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Progressive by 19,724.0% in the first quarter. Diamant Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,068,876 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $806,614,000 after purchasing an additional 4,048,351 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors lifted its holdings in shares of Progressive by 26.1% in the third quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 11,167,940 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,757,905,000 after purchasing an additional 2,314,864 shares in the last quarter. 85.34% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Progressive Company Profile

Progressive Corporation is a large U.S.-based property and casualty insurer that primarily underwrites personal auto insurance along with a broad suite of related products. Its offerings include coverage for private passenger automobiles, commercial auto fleets, motorcycles, boats and recreational vehicles, as well as homeowners, renters, umbrella and other specialty P&C products. Progressive also provides claims handling, risk management and related services to individual and commercial policyholders.

The company distributes its products through a mix of direct channels—online and by phone—and an extensive independent agent network.