Progressive (NYSE:PGR) Given New $350.00 Price Target at Bank of America

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) had its price objective boosted by Bank of America from $343.00 to $350.00 in a report issued on Monday morning,Benzinga reports. Bank of America currently has a buy rating on the insurance provider’s stock.

Several other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on PGR. Barclays reduced their price objective on Progressive from $287.00 to $281.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, August 19th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their target price on Progressive from $309.00 to $287.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 11th. BMO Capital Markets set a $252.00 target price on Progressive in a research note on Thursday, September 18th. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on Progressive from $267.00 to $265.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, September 22nd. Finally, Evercore ISI cut Progressive from an “outperform” rating to an “in-line” rating and set a $275.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Progressive currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $279.63.

Progressive Stock Performance

Shares of PGR opened at $246.73 on Monday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $245.31 and its 200 day moving average price is $261.43. Progressive has a 12-month low of $228.54 and a 12-month high of $292.99. The stock has a market capitalization of $144.64 billion, a PE ratio of 13.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 0.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 0.31 and a quick ratio of 0.31.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 16th. The insurance provider reported $4.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.43 by $0.45. Progressive had a return on equity of 35.37% and a net margin of 12.66%.The firm had revenue of $20.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $20.39 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.48 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Progressive will post 14.68 EPS for the current year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 2nd will be paid a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 2nd. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.2%. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 2.25%.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Lori A. Niederst sold 8,063 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.18, for a total transaction of $2,017,201.34. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 39,040 shares in the company, valued at $9,767,027.20. The trade was a 17.12% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider John Jo Murphy sold 2,218 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $242.10, for a total value of $536,977.80. Following the sale, the insider owned 43,506 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,532,802.60. This represents a 4.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 130,045 shares of company stock worth $31,997,390. Corporate insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Progressive

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PGR. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Progressive in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $2,156,939,000. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in Progressive in the 1st quarter worth approximately $1,473,180,000. GQG Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Progressive by 61.4% in the 1st quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 8,346,133 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,362,039,000 after purchasing an additional 3,174,632 shares during the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. lifted its holdings in Progressive by 32.8% in the 2nd quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 10,972,574 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,928,141,000 after purchasing an additional 2,709,417 shares during the last quarter. Finally, C WorldWide Group Holding A S lifted its holdings in Progressive by 12,110.3% in the 1st quarter. C WorldWide Group Holding A S now owns 1,248,628 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $353,374,000 after purchasing an additional 1,238,402 shares during the last quarter. 85.34% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.