Progressive (NYSE:PGR) Stock Price Expected to Rise, JPMorgan Chase & Co. Analyst Says

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) had its price target hoisted by analysts at JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $267.00 to $287.00 in a note issued to investors on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “overweight” rating on the insurance provider’s stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co.‘s price target would suggest a potential upside of 6.03% from the company’s previous close.

Several other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Progressive from $264.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. Raymond James raised shares of Progressive from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $305.00 price objective for the company in a report on Thursday, December 26th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Progressive from $300.00 to $307.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. StockNews.com downgraded Progressive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, April 4th. Finally, Roth Mkm lifted their target price on Progressive from $290.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. 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 currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $281.41.

Progressive Stock Performance

Shares of Progressive stock opened at $270.69 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $158.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.80, a PEG ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.38. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $270.81 and its 200 day moving average is $256.95. Progressive has a 1 year low of $201.34 and a 1 year 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 posted its 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 33.79%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Progressive will post 14.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $275.94, for a total transaction of $2,759,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 258,024 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $71,199,142.56. This represents a 3.73 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Devin C. Johnson sold 400 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $275.04, for a total value of $110,016.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 8,370 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,302,084.80. The trade was a 4.56 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 56,317 shares of company stock valued at $14,844,282 over the last quarter. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in PGR. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Progressive during the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,843,045,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in shares of Progressive by 39,285.0% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,046,037 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $862,059,000 after purchasing an additional 3,038,303 shares in the last quarter. GQG Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Progressive by 67.6% during the fourth quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 5,171,501 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,239,143,000 after purchasing an additional 2,085,833 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Progressive during the fourth quarter worth approximately $408,416,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Progressive by 13.2% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,425,792 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $3,652,235,000 after purchasing an additional 1,682,213 shares in the last quarter. 85.34% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.