Progressive (NYSE:PGR) Sets New 1-Year High – Should You Buy?

Shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) reached a new 52-week high on Friday . The company traded as high as $264.00 and last traded at $264.00, with a volume of 54521 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $257.50.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Bank of America increased their price target on shares of Progressive from $319.00 to $331.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on shares of Progressive from $257.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on shares of Progressive from $262.00 to $280.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Progressive from $242.00 to $251.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res upgraded Progressive from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 12th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Progressive has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $269.56.

Progressive Price Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $154.65 billion, a PE ratio of 18.71, a P/E/G ratio of 0.73 and a beta of 0.36. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $251.92 and its 200 day simple moving average is $229.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a current ratio of 0.30 and a quick ratio of 0.30.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The insurance provider reported $3.58 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.40 by $0.18. The business had revenue of $19.43 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $18.95 billion. Progressive had a net margin of 11.27% and a return on equity of 33.10%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that The Progressive Co. will post 13.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related 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 value of $10,937,914.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 473,735 shares in the company, valued at $119,475,967. The trade was a 8.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Patrick K. Callahan sold 7,696 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $255.21, for a total transaction of $1,964,096.16. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 15,189 shares in the company, valued at $3,876,384.69. This represents a 33.63 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 65,331 shares of company stock valued at $16,415,812. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Progressive by 0.6% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 51,751,851 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $10,703,318,000 after buying an additional 285,070 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of Progressive by 1.6% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 10,518,615 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,669,204,000 after acquiring an additional 170,618 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its position in Progressive by 7.0% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 5,067,924 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,286,036,000 after purchasing an additional 330,667 shares during the period. Capital International Investors lifted its position in Progressive by 15.7% during the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 4,925,019 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,018,592,000 after purchasing an additional 670,006 shares during the period. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc grew its position in Progressive by 1.9% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 4,922,743 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,022,507,000 after purchasing an additional 92,212 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.