Progressive (NYSE:PGR) Upgraded by StockNews.com to “Buy” Rating

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

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. Raymond James upgraded shares of Progressive from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $305.00 target price for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 26th. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Progressive from $275.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Hsbc Global Res lowered shares of Progressive from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Progressive from $264.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 13th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Progressive from $251.00 to $256.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Progressive has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $281.06.

Progressive Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE:PGR opened at $273.08 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $160.08 billion, a PE ratio of 18.96, a P/E/G ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.35. Progressive has a 1 year low of $201.34 and a 1 year high of $292.99. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $261.96 and a 200 day moving average price of $254.99. The company has a current ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $238.66, for a total transaction of $2,386,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 282,958 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $67,530,756.28. This represents a 3.41 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Andrew J. Quigg sold 681 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $242.10, for a total transaction of $164,870.10. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 33,612 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,137,465.20. This represents a 1.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 65,495 shares of company stock valued at $16,668,034. Company insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Progressive

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. 111 Capital bought a new position in Progressive during the fourth quarter worth $4,134,000. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC boosted its holdings in Progressive by 36.4% during the fourth quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 175,853 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $42,136,000 after purchasing an additional 46,915 shares during the last quarter. TFR Capital LLC. bought a new stake in Progressive in the fourth quarter worth about $1,712,000. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH bought a new stake in Progressive in the fourth quarter worth about $118,434,000. Finally, Employees Retirement System of Texas raised its position in Progressive by 112.0% in the fourth quarter. Employees Retirement System of Texas now owns 34,541 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $8,276,000 after acquiring an additional 18,250 shares during the period. 85.34% of the stock is owned by 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.