Progressive (NYSE:PGR) Price Target Cut to $265.00 by Analysts at Morgan Stanley

Key Points

• Morgan Stanley has lowered its price target for Progressive (NYSE:PGR) from $267 to $265, maintaining an "equal weight" rating, which indicates a potential upside of 9.89% from the stock's previous close.
• Multiple analysts have varied price targets for Progressive, with BMO Capital Markets setting it at $252, while Bank of America decreased it to $343 but retains a "buy" rating.
• Progressive reported earnings of $4.88 per share for the last quarter, exceeding consensus estimates, although revenue fell slightly short at $20.08 billion compared to expectations of $20.39 billion.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR - Free Report) had its price target trimmed by Morgan Stanley from $267.00 to $265.00 in a report issued on Monday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an equal weight rating on the insurance provider's stock.

A number of other research firms also recently issued reports on PGR. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on shares of Progressive from $309.00 to $287.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 11th. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Progressive from $287.00 to $281.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, August 19th. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an "equal weight" rating and set a $265.00 price objective (down from $327.00) on shares of Progressive in a research note on Thursday, September 18th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Progressive from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Sunday. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on shares of Progressive from $268.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, September 18th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $279.31.

Progressive Trading Down 0.7%

NYSE:PGR traded down $1.78 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $239.37. 138,347 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,165,030. The stock has a market capitalization of $140.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.51, a PEG ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.32. Progressive has a 52 week low of $228.54 and a 52 week high of $292.99. The firm's 50 day moving average is $245.70 and its two-hundred day moving average is $262.95. 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 (NYSE:PGR - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 16th. The insurance provider reported $4.88 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.43 by $0.45. The company had revenue of $20.08 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $20.39 billion. Progressive had a net margin of 12.66% and a return on equity of 35.37%. The firm's revenue was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.48 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Progressive will post 14.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 2nd will be paid a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 2nd. Progressive's payout ratio is presently 2.25%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Progressive

In other news, insider Lori A. Niederst sold 8,063 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.18, for a total transaction of $2,017,201.34. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 39,040 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,767,027.20. The trade was a 17.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider John Jo Murphy sold 2,218 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction on Friday, September 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $242.10, for a total transaction of $536,977.80. Following the sale, the insider owned 43,506 shares of the company's stock, valued at $10,532,802.60. The trade was a 4.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 140,045 shares of company stock valued at $34,635,290. Company insiders own 0.33% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PGR. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Progressive during the second quarter valued at $2,156,939,000. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in Progressive during the first quarter valued at $1,473,180,000. GQG Partners LLC lifted 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 valued at $2,362,039,000 after purchasing an additional 3,174,632 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in Progressive by 39,285.0% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,046,037 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $862,059,000 after purchasing an additional 3,038,303 shares during the period. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. lifted its position in Progressive by 32.8% during the second quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 10,972,574 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $2,928,141,000 after purchasing an additional 2,709,417 shares during the period. 85.34% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.