Progressive (NYSE:PGR) Announces Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.74 EPS

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) released its quarterly earnings results on Friday. The insurance provider reported $3.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.20 by $0.74, Briefing.com reports. The company had revenue of $18.96 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.88 billion. Progressive had a net margin of 8.89% and a return on equity of 29.43%. Progressive’s revenue was up 17.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.65 earnings per share.

Progressive Stock Up 0.8 %

Shares of Progressive stock opened at $203.90 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 0.36 and a quick ratio of 0.31. Progressive has a 1 year low of $111.41 and a 1 year high of $212.24. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $197.15 and its two-hundred day moving average is $173.13. The stock has a market cap of $119.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.87, a PEG ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 0.35.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 4th were issued a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.20%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, April 3rd. Progressive’s payout ratio is 4.09%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on PGR shares. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Progressive from $159.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Progressive from $171.00 to $202.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on shares of Progressive from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $240.00 target price on shares of Progressive in a research note on Monday, April 1st. Finally, Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Progressive from $192.00 to $202.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, March 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $202.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Susan Patricia Griffith sold 5,939 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $169.24, for a total value of $1,005,116.36. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 465,737 shares in the company, valued at approximately $78,821,329.88. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, insider Andrew J. Quigg sold 551 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $169.24, for a total value of $93,251.24. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 27,921 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,725,350.04. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Susan Patricia Griffith sold 5,939 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $169.24, for a total transaction of $1,005,116.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 465,737 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $78,821,329.88. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 44,629 shares of company stock worth $8,348,176 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Progressive

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Progressive by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 51,466,781 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $8,197,629,000 after purchasing an additional 218,809 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in shares of Progressive by 14.1% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 21,554,503 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $3,002,542,000 after purchasing an additional 2,666,449 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its position 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 valued at $2,378,951,000 after purchasing an additional 520,742 shares during the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. raised its position in shares of Progressive by 4.3% in the 2nd quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 9,754,850 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,291,249,000 after purchasing an additional 403,527 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in Progressive by 10.5% during the 3rd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 6,916,460 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $963,463,000 after buying an additional 655,706 shares during the last quarter. 85.34% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.