Roth Mkm Boosts Progressive (NYSE:PGR) Price Target to $270.00

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) had its price objective increased by Roth Mkm from $235.00 to $270.00 in a research note released on Thursday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have a buy rating on the insurance provider’s stock.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of Progressive from $243.00 to $246.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Progressive from a neutral rating to a buy rating and upped their price target for the stock from $230.00 to $262.00 in a research report on Thursday. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Progressive from a hold rating to a strong-buy rating in a research report on Monday, August 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Progressive from $210.00 to $239.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research report on Thursday, July 11th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their price target on Progressive from $256.00 to $255.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a report on Monday, June 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Progressive presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $234.41.

Progressive Price Performance

Shares of PGR stock opened at $235.88 on Thursday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $214.15 and a two-hundred day moving average of $206.50. The firm has a market cap of $138.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.14, a P/E/G ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.35. Progressive has a 1-year low of $129.31 and a 1-year high of $238.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 0.31 and a quick ratio of 0.31.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 16th. The insurance provider reported $2.65 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.04 by $0.61. The business had revenue of $17.90 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.54 billion. Progressive had a return on equity of 33.01% and a net margin of 10.17%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 21.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.57 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Progressive will post 12.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 3rd will be issued a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.17%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 3rd. Progressive’s payout ratio is 4.09%.

Insider Activity at Progressive

In related news, insider John Jo Murphy sold 9,512 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $237.50, for a total value of $2,259,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 45,787 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,874,412.50. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Susan Patricia Griffith sold 43,371 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $214.01, for a total value of $9,281,827.71. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 517,105 shares in the company, valued at approximately $110,665,641.05. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider John Jo Murphy sold 9,512 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $237.50, for a total transaction of $2,259,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 45,787 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,874,412.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 110,319 shares of company stock worth $23,671,517 in the last quarter. 0.34% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PGR. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Progressive by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 51,751,851 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $10,703,318,000 after purchasing an additional 285,070 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its position in Progressive by 3.6% during the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 14,935,652 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,378,951,000 after acquiring an additional 520,742 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Progressive in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,078,831,000. Capital International Investors grew its position in Progressive by 15.7% in the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 4,925,019 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,018,592,000 after acquiring an additional 670,006 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc grew its position in Progressive by 1.9% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 4,922,743 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,022,507,000 after acquiring an additional 92,212 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.