The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) Given Consensus Recommendation of "Hold" by Analysts

Key Points

• Analysts maintain a “Hold” consensus on Progressive, with 14 hold, seven buy and two sell ratings among 23 firms. The average 12-month price target is approximately $236.05.
• Progressive reported stronger-than-expected quarterly results, posting $5.67 in EPS versus the $4.64 consensus estimate and revenue of $23.61 billion, up 5% year over year.
• The stock recently traded at $223.87, up 2.1%, while insiders sold $17.7 million worth of shares over the past 90 days. The company also declared a quarterly dividend of $0.10 per share, yielding about 0.2%.

Shares of The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR - Get Free Report) have been assigned an average rating of "Hold" from the twenty-three research firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, fourteen have assigned a hold recommendation and seven have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year target price among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $236.0526.

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on Progressive from $250.00 to $241.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, August 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $230.00 target price on shares of Progressive in a research note on Wednesday, August 19th. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Progressive from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, June 30th. Mizuho set a $236.00 price target on shares of Progressive in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a "hold (c)" rating on shares of Progressive in a research report on Monday, August 3rd.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Progressive news, insider Steven Broz sold 1,225 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $219.40, for a total value of $268,765.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 31,257 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,857,785.80. This trade represents a 3.77% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Lori A. Niederst sold 7,339 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $209.29, for a total value of $1,535,979.31. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 42,567 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,908,847.43. This represents a 14.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 83,449 shares of company stock valued at $17,685,203 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.32% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Progressive

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. California State Teachers Retirement System increased its position in Progressive by 23,059.4% during the 2nd quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 199,767,282 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $43,639,163,000 after purchasing an additional 198,904,705 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Progressive in the 2nd quarter worth about $10,496,271,000. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of Progressive by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 25,808,762 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $6,373,474,000 after purchasing an additional 78,374 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors boosted its stake in shares of Progressive by 8.9% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 14,921,724 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $3,398,123,000 after purchasing an additional 1,217,527 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE purchased a new position in shares of Progressive during the second quarter valued at about $2,682,342,000. Institutional investors own 85.34% of the company's stock.

Progressive Trading Up 2.1%

NYSE PGR opened at $223.87 on Tuesday. Progressive has a 1-year low of $189.20 and a 1-year high of $249.83. The company has a current ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $215.94 and a 200-day moving average of $206.82. The firm has a market cap of $130.15 billion, a PE ratio of 11.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 0.27.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 15th. The insurance provider reported $5.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.64 by $1.03. The business had revenue of $23.61 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $19.49 billion. Progressive had a return on equity of 32.92% and a net margin of 12.84%.Progressive's revenue for the quarter was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $5.40 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Progressive will post 17.71 EPS for the current year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 9th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 1st. Progressive's dividend payout ratio is currently 2.01%.

About Progressive

Progressive Corporation is a large U.S.-based property and casualty insurer that primarily underwrites personal auto insurance along with a broad suite of related products. Its offerings include coverage for private passenger automobiles, commercial auto fleets, motorcycles, boats and recreational vehicles, as well as homeowners, renters, umbrella and other specialty P&C products. Progressive also provides claims handling, risk management and related services to individual and commercial policyholders.

The company distributes its products through a mix of direct channels—online and by phone—and an extensive independent agent network.

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