Progressive (NYSE:PGR) Stock Price Expected to Rise, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Analyst Says

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) had its target price raised by analysts at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $294.00 to $300.00 in a research report issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “outperform” rating on the insurance provider’s stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods’ target price indicates a potential upside of 9.86% from the company’s current price.

Several other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on PGR. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Progressive from $313.00 to $317.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Hsbc Global Res downgraded shares of Progressive from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Progressive from $275.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, March 14th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Progressive from $300.00 to $307.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Progressive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, March 14th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $281.06.

Progressive Price Performance

Shares of NYSE PGR opened at $273.08 on Thursday. Progressive has a twelve month low of $201.34 and a twelve month high of $292.99. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $261.96 and a 200 day simple moving average of $254.99. The company 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. The company has a quick ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 0.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 1,542 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $282.66, for a total transaction of $435,861.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 268,024 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $75,759,663.84. This represents a 0.57 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Mariann Wojtkun Marshall sold 191 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $242.10, for a total transaction of $46,241.10. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 3,982 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $964,042.20. This represents a 4.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 65,495 shares of company stock worth $16,668,034. 0.34% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of PGR. Webster Bank N. A. bought a new position in shares of Progressive during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Hager Investment Management Services LLC bought a new position in Progressive in the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. Atlantic Edge Private Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Progressive by 54.7% in the 4th quarter. Atlantic Edge Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 116 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 41 shares during the period. Minot DeBlois Advisors LLC bought a new position in Progressive in the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. Finally, Valley National Advisers Inc. boosted its holdings in Progressive by 3,000.0% in the 4th quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 124 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 120 shares during the period. 85.34% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.