Progressive (NYSE:PGR) Price Target Raised to $313.00

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) had its target price raised by Wells Fargo & Company from $302.00 to $313.00 in a report issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an overweight rating on the insurance provider’s stock.

PGR has been the topic of several other research reports. StockNews.com upgraded Progressive from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Bank of America raised their price objective on Progressive from $331.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their target price on shares of Progressive from $295.00 to $294.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Evercore ISI increased their target price on shares of Progressive from $277.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Barclays decreased their price target on shares of Progressive from $277.00 to $261.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 6th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $275.71.

Progressive Stock Performance

Shares of PGR opened at $246.78 on Thursday. Progressive has a 52-week low of $176.37 and a 52-week high of $270.62. The company has a quick ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 0.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. The firm has a market cap of $144.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.14, a PEG ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 0.41. The business’s 50 day moving average is $247.01 and its two-hundred day moving average is $244.51.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The insurance provider reported $4.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.44 by $0.64. Progressive had a net margin of 11.25% and a return on equity of 34.32%. Analysts forecast that Progressive will post 14.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 16th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 9th were issued a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.16%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. Progressive’s payout ratio is 2.78%.

Insider Transactions at Progressive

In related news, CAO Mariann Wojtkun Marshall sold 191 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $242.10, for a total value of $46,241.10. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 3,982 shares in the company, valued at approximately $964,042.20. This represents a 4.58 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Andrew J. Quigg sold 681 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction on Friday, January 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $242.10, for a total value of $164,870.10. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 33,612 shares in the company, valued at $8,137,465.20. This represents a 1.99 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 56,361 shares of company stock valued at $13,983,575 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Sunbelt Securities Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Progressive by 21.3% during the 2nd quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 262 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $54,000 after acquiring an additional 46 shares in the last quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in Progressive by 19.8% in the second quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,892 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $393,000 after purchasing an additional 313 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers increased its position in Progressive by 1.8% in the 2nd quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 68,273 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $14,181,000 after purchasing an additional 1,199 shares during the last quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Progressive by 5.5% during the 2nd quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 1,021 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $212,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Davis Capital Management acquired a new stake in shares of Progressive during the 3rd quarter valued at about $25,000. 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.