Progressive (NYSE:PGR) Downgraded to “Hold” Rating by StockNews.com

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) was downgraded by equities research analysts at StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued to investors on Friday.

PGR has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Roth Mkm boosted their target price on shares of Progressive from $290.00 to $315.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Progressive from $300.00 to $307.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Bank of America cut shares of Progressive from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $300.00 to $287.00 in a report on Friday. HSBC lowered shares of Progressive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $267.00 target price for the company. in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on Progressive from $275.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, March 14th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $280.29.

Progressive Trading Down 10.4 %

PGR stock traded down $29.73 during trading on Friday, reaching $257.27. The company had a trading volume of 7,337,044 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,615,813. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 0.31 and a quick ratio of 0.30. Progressive has a 52 week low of $201.34 and a 52 week high of $292.99. The business has a 50 day moving average of $269.14 and a 200 day moving average of $256.74. The company has a market cap of $150.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.87, a PEG ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.38.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The insurance provider reported $4.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.44 by $0.64. Progressive had a return on equity of 33.79% and a net margin of 11.25%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Progressive will post 14.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Progressive news, CIO Jonathan S. Bauer sold 1,696 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $282.66, for a total value of $479,391.36. Following the transaction, the executive now directly owns 26,697 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,546,174.02. This trade represents a 5.97 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $275.94, for a total value of $2,759,400.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 258,024 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $71,199,142.56. This represents a 3.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 56,317 shares of company stock valued at $14,844,282. Company insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Progressive

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Progressive during the 4th quarter worth $1,843,045,000. GQG Partners LLC raised its holdings in Progressive by 67.6% in the 4th quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 5,171,501 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,239,143,000 after purchasing an additional 2,085,833 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Progressive during the fourth quarter valued at $408,416,000. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Progressive by 13.2% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,425,792 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $3,652,235,000 after purchasing an additional 1,682,213 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors increased its position in Progressive by 34.3% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 6,058,187 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,451,602,000 after buying an additional 1,547,677 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

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.