Morgan Stanley Reiterates “Overweight” Rating for Progressive (NYSE:PGR)

Morgan Stanley reissued their overweight rating on shares of Progressive (NYSE:PGR) in a research report sent to investors on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a $310.00 price objective on the insurance provider’s stock.

Other equities research analysts have also issued research reports about the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on Progressive from $280.00 to $290.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Progressive from $242.00 to $251.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. TD Cowen raised their price objective on shares of Progressive from $197.00 to $237.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of Progressive from $277.00 to $285.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, HSBC lowered shares of Progressive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $267.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Progressive currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $270.69.

Progressive Trading Up 3.7 %

NYSE:PGR opened at $251.80 on Friday. Progressive has a 52 week low of $149.14 and a 52 week high of $270.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a current ratio of 0.30. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $253.91 and its 200-day moving average is $237.02. The firm has a market cap of $147.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.30, a P/E/G ratio of 0.70 and a beta of 0.38.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The insurance provider reported $3.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.40 by $0.18. Progressive had a net margin of 11.27% and a return on equity of 33.10%. The business had revenue of $19.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $18.95 billion. Equities analysts expect that Progressive will post 13.2 earnings per share for the current year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 16th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 9th will be paid a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.16%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, January 9th. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 2.91%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $268.09, for a total value of $2,680,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 292,958 shares in the company, valued at $78,539,110.22. This represents a 3.30 % 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, insider Patrick K. Callahan sold 7,696 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $255.21, for a total transaction of $1,964,096.16. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 15,189 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,876,384.69. This trade represents a 33.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 25,839 shares of company stock worth $6,718,965 over the last 90 days. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Progressive

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Townsquare Capital LLC lifted its stake in Progressive by 90.9% in the third quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 7,813 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,983,000 after purchasing an additional 3,720 shares during the last quarter. Diversified Trust Co raised its stake in shares of Progressive by 84.3% in the third quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 25,738 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $6,531,000 after buying an additional 11,770 shares during the period. Sycomore Asset Management lifted its position in shares of Progressive by 9.5% during the 2nd quarter. Sycomore Asset Management now owns 28,128 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $5,856,000 after buying an additional 2,450 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. bought a new position in shares of Progressive during the 2nd quarter worth $981,000. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its holdings in Progressive by 7.0% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 5,067,924 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,286,036,000 after acquiring an additional 330,667 shares during the last quarter. 85.34% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Progressive

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.