Progressive (NYSE:PGR) Rating Increased to Buy at StockNews.com

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) was upgraded by research analysts at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued on Saturday.

Several other research analysts have also recently issued reports on PGR. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Progressive from $313.00 to $317.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. 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 report on Thursday, December 26th. Hsbc Global Res lowered Progressive from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Barclays lifted their price target on Progressive from $264.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on Progressive from $294.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Progressive presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $281.06.

Progressive Stock Performance

NYSE:PGR opened at $273.08 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $261.96 and its 200 day moving average is $254.99. The firm has a market capitalization of $160.08 billion, a PE ratio of 18.96, a PEG 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 fifty-two week low of $201.34 and a fifty-two week high of $292.99.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The insurance provider reported $4.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.44 by $0.64. Progressive had a return on equity of 33.79% and a net margin of 11.25%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Progressive will post 14.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Progressive

In other news, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 282,958 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $67,530,756.28. This represents a 3.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Susan Patricia Griffith sold 9,066 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $242.10, for a total value of $2,194,878.60. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 473,736 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $114,691,485.60. This trade represents a 1.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 65,495 shares of company stock valued at $16,668,034. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Progressive

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PGR. Advisors Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Progressive by 29.8% during the 3rd quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 15,240 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $3,867,000 after acquiring an additional 3,498 shares during the last quarter. LPL Financial LLC raised its stake in Progressive by 20.5% during the 3rd quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 391,273 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $99,290,000 after purchasing an additional 66,628 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its stake in Progressive by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 53,269 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $13,518,000 after purchasing an additional 1,362 shares during the period. Eagle Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in Progressive by 92.8% during the 3rd quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. now owns 39,098 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $10,225,000 after purchasing an additional 18,820 shares during the period. Finally, Citigroup Inc. raised its stake in Progressive by 6.4% during the 3rd quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 470,394 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $119,367,000 after purchasing an additional 28,398 shares during the period. 85.34% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.