The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) Given Consensus Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" by Analysts

The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR - Get Free Report) has earned a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" from the eighteen analysts that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and eleven have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price target among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $287.41.

PGR has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Roth Mkm lifted their target price on shares of Progressive from $290.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Barclays lifted their price objective on Progressive from $285.00 to $297.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, April 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Progressive from $267.00 to $287.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. StockNews.com cut Progressive from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, April 4th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of Progressive from $282.00 to $288.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, April 17th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Progressive news, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $268.59, for a total value of $2,685,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 248,024 shares of the company's stock, valued at $66,616,766.16. This represents a 3.88 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Carl G. Joyce sold 360 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $276.17, for a total value of $99,421.20. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 655 shares in the company, valued at $180,891.35. This represents a 35.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 39,894 shares of company stock worth $11,020,097 over the last quarter. 0.34% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Progressive

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its stake in shares of Progressive by 2,262.4% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 433,999 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $103,990,000 after purchasing an additional 415,628 shares in the last quarter. Signal Advisors Wealth LLC increased its holdings in Progressive by 42.3% in the fourth quarter. Signal Advisors Wealth LLC now owns 11,889 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $2,849,000 after buying an additional 3,534 shares during the last quarter. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc raised its stake in Progressive by 40.4% during the fourth quarter. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc now owns 238,250 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $57,132,000 after buying an additional 68,589 shares in the last quarter. Synergy Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in Progressive by 100.3% during the 4th quarter. Synergy Asset Management LLC now owns 3,541 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $875,000 after buying an additional 1,773 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Archer Investment Corp grew its position in shares of Progressive by 295.1% in the 4th quarter. Archer Investment Corp now owns 2,102 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $504,000 after acquiring an additional 1,570 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.34% of the company's stock.

Progressive Price Performance

PGR stock opened at $283.98 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a current ratio of 0.31. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $275.06 and its 200 day moving average price is $259.61. The firm has a market cap of $166.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.72, a PEG ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.40. Progressive has a 1 year low of $201.34 and a 1 year high of $292.99.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 16th. The insurance provider reported $4.65 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $4.28 by $0.37. Progressive had a return on equity of 33.79% and a net margin of 11.25%. The firm had revenue of $22.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $21.87 billion. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Progressive will post 14.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd were given a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.14%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 3rd. Progressive's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 2.70%.

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.

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