JPMorgan Chase & Co. Issues Positive Forecast for Progressive (NYSE:PGR) Stock Price

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) had its target price increased by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $251.00 to $256.00 in a research note published on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an overweight rating on the insurance provider’s stock.

PGR has been the topic of several other research reports. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on Progressive from $257.00 to $295.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Progressive from $267.00 to $277.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on Progressive from $280.00 to $290.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Roth Mkm boosted their target price on Progressive from $270.00 to $290.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on shares of Progressive from $262.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Progressive presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $275.94.

Progressive Trading Up 0.7 %

NYSE:PGR opened at $242.22 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $141.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.70 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a current ratio of 0.30. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $251.58 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $239.85. Progressive has a 52 week low of $161.56 and a 52 week high of $270.62.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The insurance provider reported $3.58 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.40 by $0.18. Progressive had a return on equity of 33.10% and a net margin of 11.27%. The business had revenue of $19.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $18.95 billion. On average, equities analysts expect that Progressive will post 13.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 16th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 9th will be issued a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.17%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. Progressive’s payout ratio is 2.91%.

Insider Activity

In other Progressive news, insider Steven Broz sold 2,981 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 26,353 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,618,555.95. This represents a 10.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $238.66, for a total value of $2,386,600.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 282,958 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $67,530,756.28. This represents a 3.41 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 22,981 shares of company stock valued at $5,816,178 over the last ninety days. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Progressive

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in PGR. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in Progressive by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 24,683,807 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $6,263,763,000 after purchasing an additional 315,411 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Progressive by 13.2% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,425,792 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $3,652,235,000 after acquiring an additional 1,682,213 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its position in Progressive by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 10,518,615 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,669,204,000 after buying an additional 170,618 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its stake in Progressive by 7.0% in the 3rd 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, Legal & General Group Plc increased its position in shares of Progressive by 1.9% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 4,922,743 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,022,507,000 after acquiring an additional 92,212 shares during the period. 85.34% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.