William Blair Analysts Increase Earnings Estimates for The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) – Research analysts at William Blair upped their FY2024 EPS estimates for shares of Progressive in a research note issued to investors on Friday, September 13th. William Blair analyst A. Klauber now anticipates that the insurance provider will earn $14.34 per share for the year, up from their previous estimate of $13.47. The consensus estimate for Progressive’s current full-year earnings is $12.29 per share. William Blair also issued estimates for Progressive’s Q4 2024 earnings at $3.93 EPS and FY2025 earnings at $15.10 EPS.

A number of other research analysts also recently weighed in on PGR. Evercore ISI increased their target price on shares of Progressive from $243.00 to $246.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Progressive from $210.00 to $239.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 11th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Progressive from $281.00 to $282.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on Progressive from $256.00 to $255.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, June 10th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets decreased their price target on Progressive from $239.00 to $237.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Progressive has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $252.29.

Progressive Trading Up 2.4 %

PGR opened at $255.46 on Monday. The company’s 50-day moving average is $229.54 and its 200 day moving average is $215.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 0.31 and a quick ratio of 0.31. Progressive has a fifty-two week low of $134.34 and a fifty-two week high of $256.74. The firm has a market capitalization of $149.62 billion, a PE ratio of 26.15, a P/E/G ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.35.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 16th. The insurance provider reported $2.65 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.04 by $0.61. The business had revenue of $17.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17.54 billion. Progressive had a net margin of 10.17% and a return on equity of 33.01%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 21.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.57 earnings per share.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.16%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 3rd. Progressive’s payout ratio is 4.09%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Susan Patricia Griffith sold 43,370 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $252.20, for a total transaction of $10,937,914.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 473,735 shares in the company, valued at $119,475,967. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In related news, CEO Susan Patricia Griffith sold 43,370 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $252.20, for a total transaction of $10,937,914.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 473,735 shares in the company, valued at approximately $119,475,967. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Steven Broz sold 6,122 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $235.19, for a total value of $1,439,833.18. Following the sale, the insider now owns 32,316 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,600,400.04. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 146,704 shares of company stock valued at $33,367,408. Company insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Progressive

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in PGR. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Progressive by 0.6% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 51,751,851 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $10,703,318,000 after buying an additional 285,070 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Progressive in the 4th quarter worth about $1,078,831,000. Capital International Investors boosted its stake in shares of Progressive by 15.7% in the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 4,925,019 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,018,592,000 after acquiring an additional 670,006 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc raised its position in shares of Progressive by 1.9% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 4,922,743 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,022,507,000 after buying an additional 92,212 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FIL Ltd grew its position in shares of Progressive by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 4,885,731 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $778,199,000 after purchasing an additional 19,724 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

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.