Wells Fargo & Company Raises Progressive (NYSE:PGR) Price Target to $281.00

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) had its price target increased by Wells Fargo & Company from $262.00 to $281.00 in a report published on Thursday, Benzinga reports. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an overweight rating on the insurance provider’s stock.

PGR has been the subject of several other reports. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on shares of Progressive from $239.00 to $237.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Citigroup decreased their price objective on shares of Progressive from $232.00 to $225.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. HSBC raised shares of Progressive from a hold rating to a buy rating and set a $253.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 12th. Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of Progressive from $243.00 to $246.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Progressive from a hold rating to a strong-buy rating in a research report on Monday, August 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Progressive currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $234.41.

Progressive Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE PGR opened at $235.88 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 0.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. Progressive has a 12 month low of $129.31 and a 12 month high of $238.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $138.15 billion, a PE ratio of 24.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.35. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $214.15 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $206.50.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 16th. The insurance provider reported $2.65 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.04 by $0.61. Progressive had a net margin of 10.17% and a return on equity of 33.01%. 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 prior year, the business earned $0.57 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 21.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Progressive will post 12.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Progressive

In other Progressive news, insider John Jo Murphy sold 9,512 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $237.50, for a total transaction of $2,259,100.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 45,787 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,874,412.50. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Progressive news, insider John Jo Murphy sold 9,512 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $237.50, for a total transaction of $2,259,100.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 45,787 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,874,412.50. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 12,457 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $204.43, for a total transaction of $2,546,584.51. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 312,958 shares in the company, valued at approximately $63,978,003.94. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 110,319 shares of company stock worth $23,671,517. Company insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Progressive

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Progressive by 0.6% in 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 during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its stake in shares of Progressive by 3.6% in the 4th quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 14,935,652 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,378,951,000 after purchasing an additional 520,742 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Progressive in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,078,831,000. Capital International Investors lifted its stake in shares of Progressive by 15.7% in the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 4,925,019 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,018,592,000 after purchasing an additional 670,006 shares during the period. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc lifted its stake in shares of 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. 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.