Progressive (NYSE:PGR) Posts Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.64 EPS

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday. The insurance provider reported $4.08 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.44 by $0.64, Zacks reports. Progressive had a net margin of 11.27% and a return on equity of 33.10%.

Progressive Stock Up 1.3 %

Shares of NYSE:PGR traded up $3.31 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $248.36. The stock had a trading volume of 1,014,575 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,531,762. The company has a current ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. The company has a market capitalization of $145.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.96, a PEG ratio of 0.62 and a beta of 0.41. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $247.89 and its 200 day simple moving average is $244.25. Progressive has a one year low of $175.50 and a one year high of $270.62.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 16th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 9th were given a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.16%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 10th. Progressive’s payout ratio is 2.91%.

Insider Activity at Progressive

In related news, CEO Susan Patricia Griffith sold 11,021 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $243.29, for a total transaction of $2,681,299.09. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 473,736 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $115,255,231.44. This represents a 2.27 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $268.09, for a total value of $2,680,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 292,958 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $78,539,110.22. This represents a 3.30 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 42,506 shares of company stock valued at $10,531,159 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. Barclays cut their target price on Progressive from $277.00 to $261.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Bank of America increased their target price on Progressive from $331.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on shares of Progressive from $257.00 to $295.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of Progressive from $310.00 to $300.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of Progressive from $277.00 to $285.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $274.65.

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.