Progressive (NYSE:PGR) Stock Price Expected to Rise, Wells Fargo & Company Analyst Says

Progressive (NYSE:PGR - Get Free Report) had its price objective lifted by analysts at Wells Fargo & Company from $328.00 to $333.00 in a research note issued to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an "overweight" rating on the insurance provider's stock. Wells Fargo & Company's target price suggests a potential upside of 27.92% from the stock's current price.

PGR has been the subject of several other research reports. Roth Mkm raised their price objective on shares of Progressive from $290.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on Progressive from $282.00 to $288.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Progressive from $285.00 to $291.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 28th. Morgan Stanley set a $330.00 price objective on Progressive and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, May 19th. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on Progressive from $285.00 to $297.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Progressive currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $288.88.

Progressive Price Performance

Shares of PGR stock opened at $260.31 on Friday. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $275.63 and its 200 day simple moving average is $264.45. Progressive has a one year low of $204.88 and a one year high of $292.99. The firm has a market cap of $152.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.55, a P/E/G ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 0.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 0.29 and a quick ratio of 0.29.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Steven Broz sold 1,267 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $277.81, for a total transaction of $351,985.27. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 28,888 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $8,025,375.28. The trade was a 4.20% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Devin C. Johnson sold 400 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $275.04, for a total value of $110,016.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 8,370 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,302,084.80. This represents a 4.56% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 34,157 shares of company stock valued at $9,352,400. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Progressive

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Progressive during the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,843,045,000. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in shares of Progressive during the first quarter worth approximately $1,473,180,000. GQG Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Progressive by 61.4% during the 1st quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 8,346,133 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $2,362,039,000 after purchasing an additional 3,174,632 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in Progressive by 39,285.0% in the 1st 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, Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Progressive in the 4th quarter valued at $408,416,000. 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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