Progressive (NYSE:PGR) Price Target Raised to $285.00 at UBS Group

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) had its price target boosted by UBS Group from $275.00 to $285.00 in a research report released on Friday,Benzinga reports. UBS Group currently has a neutral rating on the insurance provider’s stock.

Several other brokerages have also issued reports on PGR. HSBC lowered shares of Progressive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $267.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Hsbc Global Res lowered shares of Progressive from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Raymond James upgraded shares of Progressive from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $305.00 target price for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 26th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Progressive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Progressive from $300.00 to $307.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $281.76.

Progressive Price Performance

PGR stock opened at $283.87 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $258.14 and a 200-day moving average of $253.97. The company has a current ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. Progressive has a 12 month low of $199.57 and a 12 month high of $287.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $166.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.35.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The insurance provider reported $4.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.44 by $0.64. Progressive had a net margin of 11.25% and a return on equity of 33.79%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict 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 will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.14%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 3rd. Progressive’s payout ratio is currently 2.78%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Progressive

In other news, insider Patrick K. Callahan sold 4,669 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $279.70, for a total transaction of $1,305,919.30. Following the sale, the insider now owns 15,191 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,248,922.70. The trade was a 23.51 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Mariann Wojtkun Marshall sold 191 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $242.10, for a total transaction of $46,241.10. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 3,982 shares in the company, valued at approximately $964,042.20. This trade represents a 4.58 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 62,257 shares of company stock valued at $15,752,781. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Progressive

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Progressive by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 53,400,366 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $12,795,262,000 after purchasing an additional 583,376 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Progressive by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 24,683,807 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $6,263,763,000 after purchasing an additional 315,411 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Progressive by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,615,430 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $3,498,363,000 after acquiring an additional 189,638 shares during the period. FMR LLC lifted its stake in Progressive by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 10,518,615 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,669,204,000 after acquiring an additional 170,618 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in Progressive during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,843,045,000. 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.