Jefferies Financial Group Boosts Progressive (NYSE:PGR) Price Target to $245.00

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) had its price target upped by Jefferies Financial Group from $241.00 to $245.00 in a research note released on Monday, Benzinga reports. Jefferies Financial Group currently has a buy rating on the insurance provider’s stock.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Progressive from $228.00 to $247.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. UBS Group increased their price objective on Progressive from $159.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a report on Wednesday, January 10th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on Progressive from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a report on Thursday, January 25th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Progressive from $232.00 to $238.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Bank of America cut their price objective on Progressive from $265.00 to $264.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Progressive has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $211.88.

Progressive Trading Up 0.4 %

Progressive stock opened at $209.12 on Monday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $198.74 and a two-hundred day moving average of $174.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 0.31 and a current ratio of 0.36. Progressive has a one year low of $111.41 and a one year high of $212.24. The stock has a market cap of $122.48 billion, a PE ratio of 21.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 0.35.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 12th. The insurance provider reported $3.94 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.20 by $0.74. Progressive had a return on equity of 29.43% and a net margin of 8.89%. The company had revenue of $18.96 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.88 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.65 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 17.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that Progressive will post 10.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 4th were issued a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.19%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, April 3rd. Progressive’s payout ratio is currently 4.09%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Progressive

In other Progressive news, insider Karen Bailo sold 8,464 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $189.49, for a total value of $1,603,843.36. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 32,342 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,128,485.58. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Progressive news, insider Patrick K. Callahan sold 29,675 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.26, for a total value of $5,645,965.50. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 15,189 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,889,859.14. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Karen Bailo sold 8,464 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $189.49, for a total value of $1,603,843.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 32,342 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,128,485.58. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.34% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Progressive

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in PGR. Markel Corp lifted its position in shares of Progressive by 4.1% in the first quarter. Markel Corp now owns 750,750 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $85,578,000 after acquiring an additional 29,750 shares in the last quarter. Roundview Capital LLC lifted its position in shares of Progressive by 0.8% in the first quarter. Roundview Capital LLC now owns 49,086 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $5,595,000 after acquiring an additional 381 shares in the last quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. lifted its position in shares of Progressive by 3.9% in the first quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. now owns 6,693 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $763,000 after acquiring an additional 254 shares in the last quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. lifted its position in shares of Progressive by 8.0% in the first quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 3,081 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $351,000 after acquiring an additional 228 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Progressive by 103.5% in the first quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 7,022 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $800,000 after acquiring an additional 3,571 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

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.