Progressive (NYSE:PGR) Cut to Hold at StockNews.com

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

Several other research analysts also recently issued reports on the company. HSBC downgraded Progressive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $267.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Hsbc Global Res downgraded Progressive from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Barclays upped their price objective on Progressive from $264.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday. Roth Mkm upped their price objective on Progressive from $290.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Progressive from $313.00 to $317.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $277.82.

Progressive Stock Up 0.7 %

Shares of PGR opened at $279.54 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $163.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.41, a PEG ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 0.31 and a quick ratio of 0.30. Progressive has a one year low of $199.54 and a one year high of $287.49. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $257.30 and its 200-day simple moving average is $253.68.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The insurance provider reported $4.08 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.44 by $0.64. Progressive had a return on equity of 33.79% and a net margin of 11.25%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Progressive will post 14.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Progressive

In other Progressive news, CIO Jonathan S. Bauer sold 1,227 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $281.00, for a total transaction of $344,787.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive now owns 28,393 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,978,433. This represents a 4.14 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Susan Patricia Griffith sold 11,021 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $243.29, for a total transaction of $2,681,299.09. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 473,736 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $115,255,231.44. This represents a 2.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 62,257 shares of company stock worth $15,752,781 in the last quarter. Corporate 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. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Progressive by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 5,577 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,415,000 after buying an additional 93 shares during the last quarter. Empower Advisory Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Progressive by 65.8% during the 3rd quarter. Empower Advisory Group LLC now owns 2,645 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $671,000 after buying an additional 1,050 shares during the last quarter. Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc boosted its stake in shares of Progressive by 8.4% during the 3rd quarter. Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc now owns 5,474 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,389,000 after buying an additional 426 shares during the last quarter. Huntington National Bank boosted its stake in shares of Progressive by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 26,274 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $6,667,000 after buying an additional 201 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Impax Asset Management Group plc boosted its stake in shares of Progressive by 24.9% during the 3rd quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 65,471 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $16,614,000 after buying an additional 13,047 shares during the last quarter. 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.