Progressive Stock Dips Following Piper Sandler Downgrade

The shares of Progressive Corp (NYSE:PGR) are 2.5% lower to trade at $109.35 at last check, after Piper Sandler downgraded the insurance stock to “underweight” from “neutral," and cut its price target to $100 from $113. The brokerage firm noted excessive optimism regarding auto insurance rates could lead the company to post an earnings miss.

Piper Sandler is joining a pessimistic bunch. Coming into today, eight of the 12 analysts covering PGR called the security a tepid "hold" or worse, while four deemed it a "buy" or better.

That bearish sentiment is echoed in the options pits. At the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Cboe Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX), PGR's 50-day put/call volume ratio of 1.97 ranks higher than 96% of readings from the past year. This suggests long puts have been picked up at a much quicker-than-usual pace in the last 10 weeks.

Progressive stock today is cruising toward its sixth-straight loss. Year-to-date, PGR maintains a 7.1% lead, but has taken a 9% haircut from its April 8, record high of $120.17. So far though, PGR's 80-day moving average has contained today's pullback, a trendline that hasn't been breached on a closing basis since late November.