Progressive (NYSE:PGR) Upgraded at Bank of America

Bank of America upgraded shares of Progressive (NYSE:PGR) from a neutral rating to a buy rating in a report issued on Monday, MarketBeat.com reports. They currently have $312.00 price target on the insurance provider’s stock.

A number of other analysts have also weighed in on the stock. Roth Mkm raised their price objective on shares of Progressive from $290.00 to $315.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated a “market perform” rating and issued a $288.00 target price on shares of Progressive in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Progressive from $267.00 to $287.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Progressive from $300.00 to $307.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Progressive from $320.00 to $324.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $287.41.

Progressive Price Performance

Shares of NYSE PGR opened at $281.81 on Monday. Progressive has a 1 year low of $201.34 and a 1 year high of $292.99. The company’s 50-day moving average is $274.61 and its 200 day moving average is $258.75. The stock has a market capitalization of $165.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.57, a P/E/G ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 0.31 and a quick ratio of 0.30.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 16th. The insurance provider reported $4.65 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.28 by $0.37. The company had revenue of $22.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $21.87 billion. Progressive had a return on equity of 33.79% and a net margin of 11.25%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Progressive will post 14.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 3rd. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.14%. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio is currently 2.70%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Progressive

In other news, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $279.94, for a total value of $2,799,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 269,566 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $75,462,306.04. This represents a 3.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CIO Jonathan S. Bauer sold 1,696 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $282.66, for a total transaction of $479,391.36. Following the completion of the sale, the executive now directly owns 26,697 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,546,174.02. This trade represents a 5.97 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 39,894 shares of company stock valued at $11,020,097. Insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Progressive

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of PGR. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its stake in Progressive by 98.2% during the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 789 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $189,000 after acquiring an additional 391 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake in Progressive by 2,262.4% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 433,999 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $103,990,000 after acquiring an additional 415,628 shares in the last quarter. Signal Advisors Wealth LLC grew its stake in Progressive by 42.3% during the fourth quarter. Signal Advisors Wealth LLC now owns 11,889 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,849,000 after acquiring an additional 3,534 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its stake in Progressive by 30.5% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,069,697 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $255,882,000 after acquiring an additional 249,958 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas purchased a new position in Progressive during the third quarter valued at $35,253,000. 85.34% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.