Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Issues Positive Forecast for Progressive (NYSE:PGR) Stock Price

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) had its price objective boosted by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $294.00 to $300.00 in a research note released on Thursday,Benzinga reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods currently has an outperform rating on the insurance provider’s stock.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on PGR. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Progressive from $251.00 to $256.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. UBS Group increased their price target on Progressive from $275.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, March 14th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Progressive from $313.00 to $317.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Raymond James raised Progressive from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $305.00 target price for the company in a report on Thursday, December 26th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Progressive from $300.00 to $307.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $281.06.

Progressive Stock Up 0.4 %

NYSE PGR opened at $274.52 on Thursday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $261.21 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $254.84. The stock has a market capitalization of $160.92 billion, a PE ratio of 19.06, a PEG ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.35. Progressive has a fifty-two week low of $201.34 and a fifty-two week high of $292.99. 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 released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The insurance provider reported $4.08 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.44 by $0.64. Progressive had a return on equity of 33.79% and a net margin of 11.25%. Equities analysts expect that Progressive will post 14.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be paid a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.15%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 3rd. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio is 2.78%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CIO Jonathan S. Bauer sold 1,696 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction on Monday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $282.66, for a total value of $479,391.36. Following the completion of the sale, the executive now owns 26,697 shares in the company, valued at $7,546,174.02. The trade was a 5.97 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $238.66, for a total transaction of $2,386,600.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 282,958 shares in the company, valued at approximately $67,530,756.28. This represents a 3.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 65,495 shares of company stock valued at $16,668,034 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Webster Bank N. A. bought a new position in shares of Progressive in the 4th quarter worth $26,000. Hager Investment Management Services LLC bought a new stake in shares of Progressive in the 4th quarter worth $28,000. Atlantic Edge Private Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Progressive by 54.7% in the fourth quarter. Atlantic Edge Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 116 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. Minot DeBlois Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Progressive during the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. Finally, Valley National Advisers Inc. grew its position in Progressive by 3,000.0% in the 4th quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 124 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 120 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

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.