Progressive (NYSE:PGR) Stock Price Expected to Rise, UBS Group Analyst Says

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) had its target price lifted by equities researchers at UBS Group from $275.00 to $285.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “neutral” rating on the insurance provider’s stock. UBS Group’s target price points to a potential upside of 0.40% from the stock’s current price.

Several other research firms have also recently weighed in on PGR. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Progressive from $251.00 to $256.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Progressive from $300.00 to $307.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Raymond James raised Progressive from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $305.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 26th. Roth Mkm increased their price objective on Progressive from $290.00 to $315.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Finally, Bank of America dropped their price objective on Progressive from $333.00 to $318.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $281.76.

Progressive Stock Performance

Shares of PGR stock opened at $283.87 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $166.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a current ratio of 0.31. Progressive has a one year low of $201.34 and a one year high of $287.49. The company’s 50-day moving average is $258.14 and its 200 day moving average is $254.03.

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

Insider Transactions at Progressive

In related news, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief financial officer now owns 282,958 shares in the company, valued at approximately $67,530,756.28. This trade represents a 3.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Andrew J. Quigg sold 681 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $242.10, for a total transaction of $164,870.10. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 33,612 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,137,465.20. This trade represents a 1.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 62,257 shares of company stock valued at $15,752,781 over the last quarter. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Progressive

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of PGR. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Progressive during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,843,045,000. GQG Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Progressive by 67.6% during the fourth quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 5,171,501 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,239,143,000 after buying an additional 2,085,833 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Progressive in the fourth quarter worth $408,416,000. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Progressive by 13.2% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,425,792 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $3,652,235,000 after purchasing an additional 1,682,213 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors increased its position in Progressive by 34.3% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 6,058,187 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,451,602,000 after purchasing an additional 1,547,677 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

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.