Progressive (NYSE:PGR) Price Target Raised to $307.00 at Morgan Stanley

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) had its target price boosted by Morgan Stanley from $300.00 to $307.00 in a research report released on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. Morgan Stanley currently has an overweight rating on the insurance provider’s stock.

PGR has been the topic of several other reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Progressive from $251.00 to $256.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Progressive from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on shares of Progressive from $257.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. TD Cowen increased their price target on shares of Progressive from $197.00 to $237.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 8th. Finally, HSBC cut Progressive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $267.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Progressive has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $275.71.

Progressive Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:PGR opened at $246.78 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a current ratio of 0.30. The firm has a market cap of $144.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.14, a P/E/G ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 0.41. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $247.01 and a 200 day moving average price of $244.51. Progressive has a fifty-two week low of $176.37 and a fifty-two week high of $270.62.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The insurance provider reported $4.08 EPS 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 34.32%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Progressive will post 14.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 16th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 9th were paid a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.16%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 10th. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio is presently 2.78%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Progressive

In other news, CEO Susan Patricia Griffith sold 11,021 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $243.29, for a total transaction of $2,681,299.09. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 473,736 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $115,255,231.44. This represents a 2.27 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $268.09, for a total value of $2,680,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 292,958 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $78,539,110.22. The trade was a 3.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 56,361 shares of company stock valued at $13,983,575 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Progressive

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Webster Bank N. A. purchased a new position in shares of Progressive in the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Hager Investment Management Services LLC purchased a new position in Progressive in the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Atlantic Edge Private Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in Progressive by 54.7% in the fourth quarter. Atlantic Edge Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 116 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. lifted its position in shares of Progressive by 3,000.0% during the fourth quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 124 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 120 shares during the last quarter. Finally, DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Progressive by 114.1% in the 3rd quarter. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. now owns 137 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 73 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.