Wells Fargo & Company Issues Positive Forecast for Progressive (NYSE:PGR) Stock Price

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) had its price objective raised by Wells Fargo & Company from $299.00 to $302.00 in a report released on Monday,Benzinga reports. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an overweight rating on the insurance provider’s stock.

Other research analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $310.00 price target on shares of Progressive in a research note on Friday. HSBC cut Progressive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $267.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Bank of America boosted their price target on Progressive from $331.00 to $335.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 18th. BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on Progressive from $273.00 to $267.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Progressive from $242.00 to $251.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $273.81.

Progressive Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE:PGR opened at $250.25 on Monday. Progressive has a 12 month low of $154.38 and a 12 month high of $270.62. The company has a quick ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 0.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $254.00 and its 200 day simple moving average is $237.32. The firm has a market cap of $146.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.19, a PEG ratio of 0.70 and a beta of 0.38.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The insurance provider reported $3.58 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.40 by $0.18. Progressive had a net margin of 11.27% and a return on equity of 33.10%. The business had revenue of $19.43 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $18.95 billion. As a group, research analysts forecast that Progressive will post 13.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 16th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 9th will be paid a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, January 9th. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.16%. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 2.91%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Progressive

In other Progressive news, insider Steven Broz sold 2,981 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $251.15, for a total transaction of $748,678.15. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 26,353 shares in the company, valued at $6,618,555.95. This trade represents a 10.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $268.09, for a total transaction of $2,680,900.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 292,958 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $78,539,110.22. This represents a 3.30 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 25,839 shares of company stock worth $6,718,965. Insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Progressive

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of PGR. Townsquare Capital LLC raised its stake in Progressive by 90.9% in the third quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 7,813 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,983,000 after purchasing an additional 3,720 shares in the last quarter. Diversified Trust Co raised its stake in shares of Progressive by 84.3% during the third quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 25,738 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $6,531,000 after acquiring an additional 11,770 shares in the last quarter. Sycomore Asset Management raised its stake in shares of Progressive by 9.5% during the second quarter. Sycomore Asset Management now owns 28,128 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $5,856,000 after acquiring an additional 2,450 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its stake in shares of Progressive by 7.0% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 5,067,924 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,286,036,000 after acquiring an additional 330,667 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cumberland Partners Ltd raised its stake in shares of Progressive by 116.7% during the third quarter. Cumberland Partners Ltd now owns 6,500 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,649,000 after acquiring an additional 3,500 shares in the last quarter. 85.34% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.