JPMorgan Chase & Co. Issues Positive Forecast for Progressive (NYSE:PGR) Stock Price

Key Points

• JPMorgan Chase & Co. has raised its price target for Progressive (NYSE:PGR) from $301.00 to $303.00, indicating a potential upside of 23.63% from the stock's previous close.
• Insider trading activity shows a 29.71% decrease in Patrick K. Callahan's position and a 6.05% decrease in CEO Susan Patricia Griffith's position in the company.
• Progressive had a strong earnings report with an EPS of $4.88, surpassing estimates, while its revenue grew by 12.1% year-over-year.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR - Get Free Report) had its price target raised by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $301.00 to $303.00 in a research note issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an "overweight" rating on the insurance provider's stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co.'s target price suggests a potential upside of 23.63% from the stock's previous close.

PGR has been the subject of several other research reports. Weiss Ratings restated a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Progressive in a research note on Wednesday. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Progressive from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Sunday, September 21st. BMO Capital Markets set a $252.00 price target on shares of Progressive in a report on Thursday, September 18th. Barclays set a $271.00 target price on shares of Progressive in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of Progressive from $268.00 to $261.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $279.63.

Progressive Stock Up 0.8%

Progressive stock opened at $245.08 on Thursday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $245.21 and a two-hundred day moving average of $260.20. The firm has a market cap of $143.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.81, a P/E/G ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.32. The company has a quick ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 0.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. Progressive has a twelve month low of $228.54 and a twelve month high of $292.99.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 16th. The insurance provider reported $4.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.43 by $0.45. The firm had revenue of $20.08 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $20.39 billion. Progressive had a return on equity of 35.37% and a net margin of 12.66%.The firm's revenue was up 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.48 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Progressive will post 14.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Progressive

In other news, insider Patrick K. Callahan sold 6,420 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, September 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $242.22, for a total value of $1,555,052.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 15,192 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,679,806.24. This represents a 29.71% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Susan Patricia Griffith sold 30,659 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $246.06, for a total transaction of $7,543,953.54. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 476,286 shares in the company, valued at approximately $117,194,933.16. The trade was a 6.05% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 130,045 shares of company stock worth $31,997,390 in the last quarter. 0.34% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Progressive

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of PGR. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Progressive by 0.9% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 54,516,288 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $14,548,217,000 after buying an additional 493,332 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Progressive by 2.0% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 15,513,188 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $4,128,055,000 after buying an additional 301,371 shares during the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. increased its holdings in Progressive by 32.8% during the second quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 10,972,574 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $2,928,141,000 after buying an additional 2,709,417 shares during the last quarter. GQG Partners LLC boosted its position in Progressive by 61.4% during the first quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 8,346,133 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $2,362,039,000 after purchasing an additional 3,174,632 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in Progressive during the second quarter worth $2,156,939,000. 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.

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