Analysts Set The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) Price Target at $281.76

Shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eighteen research firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $281.06.

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on PGR shares. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Progressive from $313.00 to $317.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Progressive from $251.00 to $256.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Progressive from $300.00 to $307.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Raymond James upgraded shares of Progressive from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $305.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 26th. Finally, Bank of America cut their price objective on shares of Progressive from $318.00 to $300.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday.

Progressive Price Performance

PGR opened at $274.52 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $160.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.06, a PEG ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.35. 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 50-day moving average price of $261.21 and a 200-day moving average price of $254.84. Progressive has a twelve month low of $201.34 and a twelve month high of $292.99.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The insurance provider reported $4.08 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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%. Equities analysts expect that Progressive will post 14.68 EPS for the current year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

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 issued a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 3rd. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.15%. Progressive’s payout ratio is 2.78%.

Insider Transactions at Progressive

In related news, CAO Mariann Wojtkun Marshall sold 191 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction on Friday, January 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $242.10, for a total value of $46,241.10. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 3,982 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $964,042.20. The trade was a 4.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Susan Patricia Griffith sold 11,021 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $243.29, for a total transaction of $2,681,299.09. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 473,736 shares in the company, valued at approximately $115,255,231.44. The trade was a 2.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 65,495 shares of company stock worth $16,668,034. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in PGR. Mount Lucas Management LP increased its stake in shares of Progressive by 2.4% in the third quarter. Mount Lucas Management LP now owns 2,493 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $633,000 after buying an additional 59 shares during the period. Atlanta Consulting Group Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Progressive in the third quarter worth $337,000. Claro Advisors LLC increased its position in Progressive by 117.2% during the 3rd quarter. Claro Advisors LLC now owns 2,952 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $749,000 after purchasing an additional 1,593 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans increased its position in Progressive by 26.2% during the 3rd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 139,782 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $35,471,000 after purchasing an additional 29,050 shares during the period. Finally, AMG National Trust Bank purchased a new position in Progressive during the 3rd quarter valued at $203,000. 85.34% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.