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

Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of Progressive (NYSE:PGR - Free Report) from an overweight rating to an equal weight rating in a report issued on Monday, MarketBeat reports. Morgan Stanley currently has $290.00 price target on the insurance provider's stock, down from their previous price target of $330.00.

Several other equities research analysts have also commented on PGR. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of Progressive from $282.00 to $288.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price objective on shares of Progressive from $327.00 to $319.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Progressive from $267.00 to $287.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Progressive from $285.00 to $297.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Progressive from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, June 21st. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $285.41.

Progressive Trading Down 0.5%

PGR stock traded down $1.29 during trading on Monday, hitting $249.13. The company had a trading volume of 4,289,710 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,804,722. The firm has a market capitalization of $146.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.80, a PEG ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 0.37. Progressive has a 52-week low of $207.50 and a 52-week high of $292.99. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $272.83 and a 200-day simple moving average of $265.51. The company has a quick ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 0.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24.

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

Progressive Announces Dividend

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

Insider Transactions at Progressive

In related news, insider John Jo Murphy sold 4,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, June 20th. The shares were 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 directly owned 41,289 shares in the company, valued at $10,750,829.82. The trade was a 8.83% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Dyke Kahina Van sold 2,490 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $277.67, for a total transaction of $691,398.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 12,429 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,451,160.43. This represents a 16.69% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 42,705 shares of company stock worth $11,450,948. Insiders own 0.34% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Progressive

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in PGR. Integrated Advisors Network LLC raised its position in Progressive by 1.0% during the first quarter. Integrated Advisors Network LLC now owns 3,808 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $1,078,000 after acquiring an additional 36 shares during the period. Rise Advisors LLC raised its position in Progressive by 7.4% during the first quarter. Rise Advisors LLC now owns 521 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $147,000 after acquiring an additional 36 shares during the period. Pines Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Progressive by 3.0% during the first quarter. Pines Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,287 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $335,000 after acquiring an additional 37 shares during the period. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. raised its position in Progressive by 2.0% during the first quarter. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,940 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $549,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares during the period. Finally, Beacon Financial Group raised its position in Progressive by 1.1% during the first quarter. Beacon Financial Group now owns 3,659 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $1,036,000 after acquiring an additional 39 shares during the period. 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.