Progressive (NYSE:PGR) Sets New 52-Week High After Analyst Upgrade

The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Tuesday after Bank of America raised their price target on the stock from $294.00 to $312.00. Bank of America currently has a buy rating on the stock. Progressive traded as high as $254.68 and last traded at $252.84, with a volume of 282079 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $252.20.

A number of other analysts have also recently weighed in on PGR. Roth Mkm increased their price target on Progressive from $235.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 15th. Piper Sandler raised their target price on Progressive from $250.00 to $252.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 15th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Progressive from $262.00 to $281.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 15th. HSBC upgraded 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. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their target price on Progressive from $243.00 to $246.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. One equities research 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, Progressive currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $237.24.

Insider Buying and Selling at Progressive

In other news, CAO Mariann Wojtkun Marshall sold 650 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.11, for a total transaction of $135,271.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 3,981 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $828,485.91. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, insider Steven Broz sold 6,122 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $235.19, for a total transaction of $1,439,833.18. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 32,316 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,600,400.04. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Mariann Wojtkun Marshall sold 650 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.11, for a total value of $135,271.50. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 3,981 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $828,485.91. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 103,984 shares of company stock valued at $22,564,766. 0.34% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Progressive

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Progressive by 0.6% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 51,751,851 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $10,703,318,000 after purchasing an additional 285,070 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its holdings in shares of Progressive by 3.6% in 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 purchasing an additional 520,742 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Progressive in the fourth quarter valued at $1,078,831,000. Capital International Investors raised its holdings in shares of Progressive by 15.7% during 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 raised its holdings in shares of Progressive by 1.9% during 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. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Progressive Trading Up 0.6 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 0.31 and a quick ratio of 0.31. The company has a fifty day moving average of $223.88 and a 200-day moving average of $211.99. The firm has a market capitalization of $148.71 billion, a PE ratio of 25.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.83 and a beta of 0.35.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 16th. The insurance provider reported $2.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.04 by $0.61. Progressive had a return on equity of 33.01% and a net margin of 10.17%. The business had revenue of $17.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.54 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.57 earnings per share. Progressive’s quarterly revenue was up 21.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that The Progressive Co. will post 12.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 3rd. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.16%. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio is 4.09%.

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.