Progressive (NYSE:PGR) Rating Lowered to Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley cut shares of Progressive (NYSE:PGR - Free Report) from an overweight rating to an equal weight rating in a research note issued to investors on Monday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The firm currently has $290.00 price target on the insurance provider's stock, down from their prior price target of $330.00.

A number of other research analysts have also recently commented on PGR. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Progressive from $267.00 to $287.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Progressive from $285.00 to $291.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 28th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed a "market perform" rating and set a $288.00 price objective on shares of Progressive in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Wall Street Zen raised Progressive from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, June 21st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Progressive from $328.00 to $333.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, June 20th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $285.41.

Progressive Trading Down 0.5%

NYSE:PGR traded down $1.29 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $250.35. The company had a trading volume of 2,533,874 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,798,782. 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 company has a 50-day moving average of $272.83 and a 200 day moving average of $265.51. The company has a market cap of $146.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.88, a P/E/G ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 0.37. Progressive has a 1 year low of $207.50 and a 1 year high of $292.99.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 16th. The insurance provider reported $4.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.28 by $0.37. The company had revenue of $22.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $21.87 billion. Progressive had a return on equity of 33.50% and a net margin of 11.10%. Sell-side analysts expect that Progressive will post 14.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 11th. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 4th will be given a $0.10 dividend. This represents a yield of 0.15%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 3rd. Progressive's dividend payout ratio is currently 2.70%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider John Jo Murphy sold 4,000 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $260.38, for a total value of $1,041,520.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider 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 can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Steven Broz sold 1,267 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $260.38, for a total value of $329,901.46. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 27,621 shares of the company's stock, valued at $7,191,955.98. The trade was a 4.39% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 42,705 shares of company stock worth $11,450,948 over the last 90 days. 0.34% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Progressive

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC boosted its stake in shares of Progressive by 599.2% in the 2nd quarter. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC now owns 7,544 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $2,013,000 after buying an additional 6,465 shares during the period. Channel Wealth LLC boosted its stake in shares of Progressive by 7.1% in the 2nd quarter. Channel Wealth LLC now owns 9,422 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $2,514,000 after buying an additional 625 shares during the period. Chesley Taft & Associates LLC raised its position in shares of Progressive by 1.7% during the 2nd quarter. Chesley Taft & Associates LLC now owns 18,771 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $5,009,000 after acquiring an additional 313 shares in the last quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC raised its position in shares of Progressive by 33.2% during the 2nd quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC now owns 6,110 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $1,631,000 after acquiring an additional 1,522 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Baron Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Progressive by 31.6% during the 2nd quarter. Baron Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,111 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $297,000 after acquiring an additional 267 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.34% of the company's stock.

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.