Barclays Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Progressive (NYSE:PGR) Stock

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) had its target price upped by analysts at Barclays from $261.00 to $264.00 in a note issued to investors on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “equal weight” rating on the insurance provider’s stock. Barclays‘s price objective would indicate a potential upside of 0.49% from the company’s current price.

PGR has been the topic of several other research reports. TD Cowen lifted their price target on shares of Progressive from $197.00 to $237.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Evercore ISI upped their price target on Progressive from $277.00 to $285.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. StockNews.com raised Progressive from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on shares of Progressive from $295.00 to $294.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Raymond James raised 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 note on Thursday, December 26th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Progressive currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $275.88.

Progressive Price Performance

NYSE:PGR opened at $262.71 on Tuesday. Progressive has a one year low of $186.94 and a one year high of $270.62. The stock has a market cap of $153.90 billion, a PE ratio of 18.24, a P/E/G ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a current ratio of 0.31. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $245.26 and a 200 day moving average price of $247.88.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The insurance provider reported $4.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.44 by $0.64. Progressive had a return on equity of 33.79% and a net margin of 11.25%. Equities research analysts expect that Progressive will post 14.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Progressive

In related news, CEO Susan Patricia Griffith sold 9,066 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 473,736 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $114,691,485.60. This trade represents a 1.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $268.09, for a total transaction of $2,680,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 292,958 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $78,539,110.22. This trade represents a 3.30 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 56,361 shares of company stock valued at $13,983,575 in the last three months. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Progressive

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its position in shares of Progressive by 98.2% during the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 789 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $189,000 after purchasing an additional 391 shares in the last quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC boosted its holdings in Progressive by 90.9% during the third quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 7,813 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,983,000 after buying an additional 3,720 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its position in Progressive by 7.0% during 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 buying an additional 330,667 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its position in Progressive by 2,262.4% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 433,999 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $103,990,000 after buying an additional 415,628 shares during the period. Finally, Signal Advisors Wealth LLC increased its holdings in Progressive by 42.3% in the fourth quarter. Signal Advisors Wealth LLC now owns 11,889 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,849,000 after buying an additional 3,534 shares in the last quarter. 85.34% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.