Progressive (NYSE:PGR) Given New $221.00 Price Target at HSBC

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) had its price target hoisted by HSBC from $214.00 to $221.00 in a research report report published on Monday, Marketbeat.com reports. HSBC currently has a hold rating on the insurance provider’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. Evercore reiterated a “negative” rating on shares of Progressive in a research report on Wednesday, March 18th. BMO Capital Markets reiterated a “market perform” rating and set a $220.00 target price on shares of Progressive in a research report on Wednesday, May 20th. Mizuho lowered their target price on Progressive from $235.00 to $223.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 20th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price target on Progressive from $216.00 to $215.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 24th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their price target on Progressive from $205.00 to $190.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 31st. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Progressive currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $235.37.

Progressive Stock Performance

Shares of PGR opened at $236.82 on Monday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $203.97 and a 200-day simple moving average of $206.60. The company has a quick ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 0.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The company has a market capitalization of $138.38 billion, a PE ratio of 12.03, a P/E/G ratio of 7.03 and a beta of 0.26. Progressive has a 52-week low of $189.20 and a 52-week high of $254.93.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 15th. The insurance provider reported $4.80 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.67 by $0.13. Progressive had a net margin of 12.92% and a return on equity of 33.47%. The firm had revenue of $22.19 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $23.51 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $4.37 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Progressive will post 17.12 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 2nd will be paid a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 2nd. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.2%. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio is presently 2.03%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Progressive news, insider John Jo Murphy sold 5,916 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $200.00, for a total transaction of $1,183,200.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 41,290 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,258,000. This represents a 12.53% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Jeffrey D. Kelly sold 7,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $216.33, for a total value of $1,514,310.00. Following the sale, the director owned 22,546 shares in the company, valued at $4,877,376.18. This trade represents a 23.69% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 15,230 shares of company stock worth $3,165,817. 0.32% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Progressive

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PGR. Allstate Corp boosted its stake in shares of Progressive by 106.1% in the fourth quarter. Allstate Corp now owns 44,513 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $10,136,000 after purchasing an additional 22,915 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Progressive during the 4th quarter worth $1,836,094,000. Mariner LLC lifted its holdings in Progressive by 7.9% in the 3rd quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 644,636 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $159,183,000 after buying an additional 47,248 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. boosted its position in Progressive by 5.7% in the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 1,807,068 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $411,506,000 after buying an additional 97,275 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Investment House LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Progressive during the fourth quarter valued at about $8,447,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

About Progressive

Progressive Corporation is a large U.S.-based property and casualty insurer that primarily underwrites personal auto insurance along with a broad suite of related products. Its offerings include coverage for private passenger automobiles, commercial auto fleets, motorcycles, boats and recreational vehicles, as well as homeowners, renters, umbrella and other specialty P&C products. Progressive also provides claims handling, risk management and related services to individual and commercial policyholders.

The company distributes its products through a mix of direct channels—online and by phone—and an extensive independent agent network.