Progressive (NYSE:PGR) Given New $347.00 Price Target at Bank of America

Key Points

• Bank of America has raised its price target for Progressive (NYSE:PGR) from $344.00 to $347.00, maintaining a "buy" rating and indicating a potential upside of 41.81% from the previous close.
• Despite the positive rating from Bank of America, other analysts have set lower targets, with Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropping their target to $268.00 and Evercore ISI lowering it to $275.00.
• Progressive's stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" with an average target price of $284.82, while institutional investors currently own 85.34% of the company's stock.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR - Get Free Report) had its price objective boosted by investment analysts at Bank of America from $344.00 to $347.00 in a note issued to investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a "buy" rating on the insurance provider's stock. Bank of America's price objective indicates a potential upside of 41.81% from the company's previous close.

Several other equities analysts have also recently commented on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their target price on shares of Progressive from $290.00 to $268.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. Evercore ISI lowered shares of Progressive from an "outperform" rating to an "in-line" rating and set a $275.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of Progressive from $330.00 to $327.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 21st. UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of Progressive from $280.00 to $268.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, July 21st. Finally, Citigroup restated a "buy" rating on shares of Progressive in a research note on Friday, August 29th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Progressive presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $284.82.

Progressive Stock Up 0.6%

Shares of PGR traded up $1.43 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $244.69. The stock had a trading volume of 476,366 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,180,747. Progressive has a 1-year low of $228.54 and a 1-year high of $292.99. The firm has a market capitalization of $143.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 0.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 0.31 and a quick ratio of 0.31. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $247.14 and a 200-day simple moving average of $265.25.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 16th. The insurance provider reported $4.88 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.43 by $0.45. Progressive had a net margin of 12.66% and a return on equity of 35.37%. The business had revenue of $20.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $20.39 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.48 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Progressive will post 14.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Progressive news, insider Steven Broz sold 1,345 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, August 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.78, for a total value of $337,299.10. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 31,733 shares of the company's stock, valued at $7,958,001.74. The trade was a 4.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Lori A. Niederst sold 8,063 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the insider owned 39,040 shares in the company, valued at $9,767,027.20. This represents a 17.12% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 139,010 shares of company stock valued at $34,547,699 over the last three months. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. SevenBridge Financial Group LLC raised its position in Progressive by 50.7% in the second quarter. SevenBridge Financial Group LLC now owns 8,780 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $2,134,000 after acquiring an additional 2,954 shares during the period. Osaic Holdings Inc. raised its position in Progressive by 18.9% in the second quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 68,648 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $18,443,000 after acquiring an additional 10,903 shares during the period. American Trust raised its position in Progressive by 88.5% in the second quarter. American Trust now owns 4,384 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $1,170,000 after acquiring an additional 2,058 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans raised its position in Progressive by 18.5% in the second quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 111,613 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $29,782,000 after acquiring an additional 17,423 shares during the period. Finally, MASTERINVEST Kapitalanlage GmbH bought a new position in Progressive in the second quarter worth approximately $7,702,000. 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.

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