The Progressive Co. Declares Quarterly Dividend of $0.10 (NYSE:PGR)

The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) announced a quarterly dividend on Friday, May 10th, Zacks reports. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 3rd will be paid a dividend of 0.10 per share by the insurance provider on Friday, July 12th. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.19%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, July 3rd.

Progressive has a dividend payout ratio of 3.3% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Progressive to earn $12.19 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.40 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 3.3%.

Progressive Stock Down 1.7 %

PGR opened at $207.71 on Monday. Progressive has a twelve month low of $111.41 and a twelve month high of $217.77. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $209.49 and a 200 day moving average price of $193.84. The company has a quick ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 0.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The company has a market cap of $121.66 billion, a PE ratio of 21.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.35.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 12th. The insurance provider reported $3.94 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.20 by $0.74. The firm had revenue of $18.96 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.88 billion. Progressive had a return on equity of 29.43% and a net margin of 8.89%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.65 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Progressive will post 11.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on PGR. BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating and set a $235.00 target price on shares of Progressive in a report on Monday, June 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Progressive from $171.00 to $202.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Progressive from $279.00 to $286.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 16th. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Progressive from $216.00 to $218.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. Finally, HSBC lifted their price target on shares of Progressive from $174.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $216.81.

Insider Buying and Selling at Progressive

In other news, insider Steven Broz sold 7,361 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $207.25, for a total value of $1,525,567.25. Following the sale, the insider now owns 35,503 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,357,996.75. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, insider Steven Broz sold 7,361 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $207.25, for a total transaction of $1,525,567.25. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 35,503 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,357,996.75. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Devin C. Johnson sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.33, for a total transaction of $208,330.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 7,176 shares in the company, valued at $1,494,976.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 24,518 shares of company stock worth $5,055,674. 0.34% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.