The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.10

The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) announced a quarterly dividend on Friday, May 8th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 2nd will be paid a dividend of 0.10 per share by the insurance provider on Friday, July 10th. This represents a c) annualized dividend and a yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 2nd.

Progressive has increased its dividend payment by an average of 0.1%per year over the last three years. Progressive has a dividend payout ratio of 2.5% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Progressive to earn $16.48 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.40 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 2.4%.

Progressive Price Performance

NYSE:PGR opened at $219.13 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $128.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.14, a PEG ratio of 6.81 and a beta of 0.28. Progressive has a 1 year low of $189.20 and a 1 year high of $267.92. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $202.17 and a 200-day simple moving average of $206.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 0.27 and a quick ratio of 0.27.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 15th. The insurance provider reported $4.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.67 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $22.19 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $23.51 billion. Progressive had a return on equity of 33.47% and a net margin of 12.92%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $4.37 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Progressive will post 17.08 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently commented on PGR. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on shares of Progressive from $208.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, June 18th. Evercore reaffirmed a “negative” rating on shares of Progressive in a research note on Wednesday, March 18th. Wells Fargo & Company downgraded Progressive from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $205.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Monday. Argus raised Progressive to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 5th. Finally, Mizuho dropped their price objective on Progressive from $235.00 to $223.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 20th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $236.84.

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.