Progressive (NYSE:PGR) Price Target Raised to $300.00

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) had its price target upped by analysts at Morgan Stanley from $260.00 to $300.00 in a research report issued on Monday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “overweight” rating on the insurance provider’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s price target would indicate a potential upside of 17.44% from the company’s current price.

PGR has been the topic of several other reports. BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on shares of Progressive from $239.00 to $237.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of Progressive from $243.00 to $246.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. HSBC raised shares of Progressive from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $253.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Monday, August 12th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on Progressive from $255.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised Progressive from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $230.00 to $262.00 in a research report on Thursday, August 15th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $254.94.

Progressive Stock Performance

Progressive stock opened at $255.46 on Monday. Progressive has a fifty-two week low of $134.34 and a fifty-two week high of $256.74. The company has a market capitalization of $149.62 billion, a PE ratio of 26.15, a P/E/G ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.35. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $229.54 and a 200-day moving average price of $215.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 0.31 and a current ratio of 0.31.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 16th. The insurance provider reported $2.65 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.04 by $0.61. Progressive had a return on equity of 33.01% and a net margin of 10.17%. The business had revenue of $17.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.54 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.57 EPS. Progressive’s revenue was up 21.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Progressive will post 12.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Susan Patricia Griffith sold 43,370 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $252.20, for a total transaction of $10,937,914.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 473,735 shares in the company, valued at $119,475,967. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In related news, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $210.40, for a total value of $2,104,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 302,958 shares in the company, valued at approximately $63,742,363.20. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Susan Patricia Griffith sold 43,370 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $252.20, for a total transaction of $10,937,914.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 473,735 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $119,475,967. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 146,704 shares of company stock valued at $33,367,408. Insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Progressive

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in PGR. WR Wealth Planners LLC boosted its holdings in Progressive by 119.6% in the second quarter. WR Wealth Planners LLC now owns 123 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 67 shares during the last quarter. Indiana Trust & Investment Management CO purchased a new stake in shares of Progressive in the first quarter worth about $32,000. Sachetta LLC acquired a new stake in Progressive during the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Northwest Bank & Trust Co purchased a new position in Progressive during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Finally, Hilltop National Bank boosted its position in Progressive by 126.0% in the 2nd quarter. Hilltop National Bank now owns 165 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 92 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.