Progressive (NYSE:PGR) Sets New 1-Year High After Analyst Upgrade

The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)’s stock price hit a new 52-week high on Monday after UBS Group raised their price target on the stock from $275.00 to $285.00. UBS Group currently has a neutral rating on the stock. Progressive traded as high as $287.60 and last traded at $289.16, with a volume of 191491 shares. The stock had previously closed at $283.69.

A number of other research firms have also issued reports on PGR. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Progressive from $251.00 to $256.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Barclays raised their price target on Progressive from $264.00 to $285.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. Roth Mkm boosted their price objective on Progressive from $290.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. StockNews.com lowered Progressive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, March 14th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price target on Progressive from $295.00 to $294.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 10th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $281.76.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 282,958 shares in the company, valued at $67,530,756.28. This trade represents a 3.41 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CIO Jonathan S. Bauer sold 1,696 shares of the company’s 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. This trade represents a 5.97 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 65,495 shares of company stock worth $16,668,034 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Progressive

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PGR. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Progressive by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 53,400,366 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $12,795,262,000 after acquiring an additional 583,376 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in Progressive by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 24,683,807 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $6,263,763,000 after purchasing an additional 315,411 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Progressive by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,615,430 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $3,498,363,000 after purchasing an additional 189,638 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its holdings in shares of Progressive by 1.6% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 10,518,615 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,669,204,000 after purchasing an additional 170,618 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Progressive in the fourth quarter valued at $1,843,045,000. 85.34% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Progressive Price Performance

The stock has a fifty day moving average of $259.99 and a 200-day moving average of $254.57. The company has a quick ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 0.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. The firm has a market capitalization of $165.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.63, a PEG ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.35.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The insurance provider reported $4.08 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.44 by $0.64. Progressive had a net margin of 11.25% and a return on equity of 33.79%. Equities analysts predict that The Progressive Co. will post 14.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be given a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 3rd. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.14%. Progressive’s payout ratio is 2.78%.

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.