Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Issues Pessimistic Forecast for Progressive (NYSE:PGR) Stock Price

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) had its target price decreased by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $295.00 to $294.00 in a report issued on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods currently has an outperform rating on the insurance provider’s stock.

A number of other research firms also recently issued reports on PGR. TD Cowen boosted their price target on Progressive from $197.00 to $237.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 8th. 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. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Progressive from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on Progressive from $262.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $310.00 target price on shares of Progressive in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $275.24.

Progressive Stock Down 3.3 %

Shares of Progressive stock opened at $235.57 on Friday. Progressive has a twelve month low of $164.98 and a twelve month high of $270.62. The company has a quick ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 0.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. The company’s 50 day moving average is $251.34 and its 200 day moving average is $241.14. The company has a market cap of $138.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.70 and a beta of 0.41.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The insurance provider reported $3.58 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.40 by $0.18. Progressive had a return on equity of 33.10% and a net margin of 11.27%. The firm had revenue of $19.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $18.95 billion. Research analysts anticipate that Progressive will post 13.2 EPS for the current year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 16th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 9th will be issued a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.17%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 2.91%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Susan Patricia Griffith sold 9,066 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $242.10, for a total transaction of $2,194,878.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 473,736 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $114,691,485.60. This represents a 1.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $238.66, for a total value of $2,386,600.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 282,958 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $67,530,756.28. This represents a 3.41 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 32,919 shares of company stock worth $8,222,168. 0.34% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of PGR. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its stake in Progressive by 98.2% during the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 789 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $189,000 after purchasing an additional 391 shares in the last quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC raised its position in shares of Progressive by 90.9% during the 3rd quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 7,813 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,983,000 after buying an additional 3,720 shares in the last quarter. Diversified Trust Co raised its position in shares of Progressive by 84.3% during the 3rd quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 25,738 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $6,531,000 after buying an additional 11,770 shares in the last quarter. Sycomore Asset Management lifted its holdings in shares of Progressive by 9.5% in the 2nd quarter. Sycomore Asset Management now owns 28,128 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $5,856,000 after acquiring an additional 2,450 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its position in Progressive by 7.0% in 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 worth $1,286,036,000 after acquiring an additional 330,667 shares in the last quarter. 85.34% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.