Progressive (NYSE:PGR) Downgraded to "Market Perform" Rating by BMO Capital Markets

Key Points

• BMO Capital Markets downgraded Progressive's stock rating from "outperform" to "market perform" with a price target of $250.00, indicating a potential upside of 1.90%.
• Progressive reported earnings of $4.88 per share, exceeding estimates, while its revenue grew 12.1% year-over-year, totaling $20.08 billion for the quarter.
• Insider selling activity was noted, including CEO Susan Griffith selling over 30,000 shares, which decreased her ownership by 6.05%.

BMO Capital Markets cut shares of Progressive (NYSE:PGR - Free Report) from an outperform rating to a market perform rating in a research note released on Wednesday morning, MarketBeat.com reports. They currently have $250.00 price objective on the insurance provider's stock, down from their previous price objective of $279.00.

Other equities research analysts have also issued research reports about the company. Evercore ISI lowered Progressive from an "outperform" rating to an "in-line" rating and set a $275.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on Progressive from $330.00 to $327.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 21st. Bank of America upped their target price on Progressive from $344.00 to $347.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 10th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their target price on Progressive from $290.00 to $268.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. Finally, Citigroup reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Progressive in a research note on Friday, August 29th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $279.44.

Progressive Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:PGR traded up $0.26 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $242.26. 4,778,275 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,433,152. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $245.83 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $263.47. The company has a market cap of $142.02 billion, a PE ratio of 13.65, a P/E/G ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 0.32. The company has a current ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 0.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. Progressive has a 12-month low of $228.54 and a 12-month high of $292.99.

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

Progressive Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 2nd 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 2nd. Progressive's dividend payout ratio is presently 2.25%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Progressive

In other news, insider Patrick K. Callahan sold 6,232 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, August 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.96, for a total transaction of $1,557,750.72. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 21,612 shares in the company, valued at $5,402,135.52. This represents a 22.38% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider John Jo Murphy sold 2,218 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, August 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.78, for a total value of $556,230.04. Following the sale, the insider owned 45,724 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $11,466,664.72. The trade was a 4.63% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 130,062 shares of company stock worth $32,217,635. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Progressive

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. State of Alaska Department of Revenue increased its holdings in Progressive by 2.7% in the 1st quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 68,644 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $19,426,000 after purchasing an additional 1,800 shares in the last quarter. Trust Co. of Oklahoma acquired a new stake in shares of Progressive in the second quarter valued at about $439,000. Belmont Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Progressive in the first quarter valued at about $580,000. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI grew its stake in shares of Progressive by 87.9% in the first quarter. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI now owns 414,183 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $117,218,000 after buying an additional 193,800 shares in the last quarter. Finally, QRG Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Progressive by 36.4% in the first quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 126,826 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $35,893,000 after buying an additional 33,864 shares in the last quarter. 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.