Barclays Initiates Coverage on Progressive (NYSE:PGR)

Barclays assumed coverage on shares of Progressive (NYSE:PGR) in a research report released on Wednesday morning, MarketBeat.com reports. The firm issued an equal weight rating and a $367.00 price target on the insurance provider’s stock.

Several other equities research analysts have also weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Progressive from $210.00 to $239.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Thursday, July 11th. Citigroup dropped their price objective on Progressive from $232.00 to $225.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on shares of Progressive from $255.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Progressive from a neutral rating to a buy rating and increased their target price for the stock from $230.00 to $262.00 in a research report on Thursday, August 15th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of Progressive from $256.00 to $255.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, June 10th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $252.24.

Progressive Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE PGR opened at $248.69 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $145.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.45, a PEG ratio of 0.83 and a beta of 0.35. Progressive has a one year low of $134.34 and a one year high of $254.83. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $225.47 and a 200 day simple moving average of $212.83. The company has a current ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 0.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30.

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, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.04 by $0.61. Progressive had a net margin of 10.17% and a return on equity of 33.01%. The company had revenue of $17.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17.54 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.57 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 21.6% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Progressive will post 12.2 EPS for the current year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Progressive

In other Progressive news, CAO Mariann Wojtkun Marshall sold 650 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 17th. The shares were 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 owns 3,981 shares in the company, valued at approximately $828,485.91. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, CAO Mariann Wojtkun Marshall sold 650 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.11, for a total value 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Susan Patricia Griffith sold 43,370 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $252.20, for a total transaction of $10,937,914.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 473,735 shares in the company, valued at approximately $119,475,967. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 147,354 shares of company stock valued at $33,502,680. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Progressive

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Sunbelt Securities Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Progressive by 21.3% in the second quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 262 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $54,000 after acquiring an additional 46 shares in the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. grew its position in shares of Progressive by 11.8% in the 2nd quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 455 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $95,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares during the period. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. increased its stake in Progressive by 10.4% during the 2nd quarter. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. now owns 509 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $106,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares in the last quarter. Graypoint LLC raised its holdings in Progressive by 1.2% during the 2nd quarter. Graypoint LLC now owns 4,202 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $873,000 after buying an additional 49 shares during the period. Finally, City State Bank lifted its stake in Progressive by 8.2% in the second quarter. City State Bank now owns 661 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $137,000 after buying an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

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.