Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Boosts Progressive (NYSE:PGR) Price Target to $290.00

Progressive (NYSE:PGR - Free Report) had its target price lifted by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $288.00 to $290.00 in a research note published on Wednesday morning,Benzinga reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods currently has a market perform rating on the insurance provider's stock.

PGR has been the topic of several other reports. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Progressive from $328.00 to $333.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, June 20th. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of Progressive from $282.00 to $288.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Wall Street Zen raised Progressive from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, June 21st. Bank of America raised Progressive from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $312.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Finally, Morgan Stanley downgraded Progressive from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $330.00 to $290.00 in a report on Monday. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $285.41.

Progressive Trading Down 1.8%

Shares of PGR stock traded down $4.61 on Wednesday, reaching $244.77. 3,182,460 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,810,532. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 0.29 and a quick ratio of 0.29. Progressive has a one year low of $208.13 and a one year high of $292.99. The stock has a market cap of $143.49 billion, a PE ratio of 16.51, a P/E/G ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 0.37. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $271.50 and a 200 day moving average price of $265.58.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 16th. The insurance provider reported $4.65 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $4.28 by $0.37. Progressive had a return on equity of 33.50% and a net margin of 11.10%. The firm had revenue of $22.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $21.87 billion. Equities research analysts forecast that Progressive will post 14.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 11th. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 4th will be issued a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a dividend yield of 0.15%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 3rd. Progressive's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 2.70%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Progressive news, insider John Jo Murphy sold 4,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $260.38, for a total transaction of $1,041,520.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 41,289 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,750,829.82. This trade represents a 8.83% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Steven Broz sold 1,267 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, June 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $260.38, for a total transaction of $329,901.46. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 27,621 shares of the company's stock, valued at $7,191,955.98. This represents a 4.39% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 42,705 shares of company stock worth $11,450,948 in the last three months. 0.34% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Progressive

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Brighton Jones LLC grew its holdings in shares of Progressive by 15.6% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 3,392 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $813,000 after buying an additional 457 shares in the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in Progressive during the 4th quarter worth approximately $269,000. Highview Capital Management LLC DE grew its stake in shares of Progressive by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. Highview Capital Management LLC DE now owns 11,040 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $2,645,000 after acquiring an additional 339 shares in the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Progressive by 54.1% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,371 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $568,000 after purchasing an additional 832 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Davis R M Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Progressive by 8.7% in the fourth quarter. Davis R M Inc. now owns 1,119 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $268,000 after purchasing an additional 90 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 85.34% of the company's stock.

Progressive Company Profile

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.