Progressive (NYSE:PGR) Coverage Initiated at Citigroup

Key Points

• Citigroup has initiated coverage on Progressive (NYSE:PGR) with a "buy" rating and a price target of $312.00, indicating a potential upside of 28.53% from its current price.
• The current consensus rating for Progressive is a "Moderate Buy", with ten buy ratings and a target price of $283.06 from various analysts.
• Insider selling has been significant, with CEO Susan Patricia Griffith selling over 30,000 shares, raising questions about insider sentiment on the stock's future performance.

Equities research analysts at Citigroup started coverage on shares of Progressive (NYSE:PGR - Get Free Report) in a research report issued to clients and investors on Wednesday, MarketBeat.com reports. The brokerage set a "buy" rating and a $312.00 price target on the insurance provider's stock. Citigroup's price target would suggest a potential upside of 24.21% from the stock's previous close.

A number of other research analysts have also weighed in on PGR. Morgan Stanley set a $265.00 price objective on shares of Progressive and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Monday. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Progressive from $297.00 to $287.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, July 7th. Evercore ISI lowered shares of Progressive from an "outperform" rating to an "in-line" rating and set a $275.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price target on shares of Progressive from $309.00 to $287.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Monday. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Progressive from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, July 18th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Progressive has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $283.06.

Progressive Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:PGR traded up $2.00 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $251.19. The company had a trading volume of 4,574,102 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,178,978. The company has a current ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 0.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. The firm has a market cap of $147.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.15, a PEG ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 0.33. The company's 50-day moving average price is $253.79 and its 200-day moving average price is $266.24. Progressive has a one year low of $228.54 and a one year high of $292.99.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 16th. The insurance provider reported $4.88 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $4.43 by $0.45. Progressive had a net margin of 12.66% and a return on equity of 35.37%. The business had revenue of $20.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $20.39 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.48 EPS. Progressive's revenue was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Progressive will post 14.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Progressive news, insider Patrick K. Callahan sold 6,232 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, July 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $242.16, for a total value of $1,509,141.12. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 27,844 shares of the company's stock, valued at $6,742,703.04. The trade was a 18.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider John Jo Murphy sold 4,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, June 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $260.38, for a total transaction of $1,041,520.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 41,289 shares of the company's stock, valued at $10,750,829.82. This represents a 8.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 104,250 shares of company stock valued at $26,332,348 in the last three months. 0.34% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Progressive

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PGR. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its stake in Progressive by 15.6% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 3,392 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $813,000 after purchasing an additional 457 shares during the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in Progressive in the fourth quarter worth $269,000. Highview Capital Management LLC DE lifted its stake in Progressive by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. Highview Capital Management LLC DE now owns 11,040 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $2,645,000 after purchasing an additional 339 shares during the last quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC lifted its stake in Progressive by 28.6% in the fourth quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 10,051 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $2,408,000 after purchasing an additional 2,238 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mariner LLC raised its stake in shares of Progressive by 4.3% during the fourth quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 172,591 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $41,354,000 after acquiring an additional 7,111 shares during the last quarter. 85.34% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.