Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Issues Pessimistic Forecast for Progressive (NYSE:PGR) Stock Price

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) had its target price reduced by stock analysts at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $295.00 to $294.00 in a note issued to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “outperform” rating on the insurance provider’s stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods’ target price would indicate a potential upside of 23.82% from the company’s previous close.

Other research analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $310.00 price target on shares of Progressive in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Hsbc Global Res lowered shares of Progressive from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Progressive from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. TD Cowen boosted their price objective 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, Raymond James raised shares of Progressive from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $305.00 price objective for the company in a report on Thursday, December 26th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Progressive currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $275.24.

Progressive Stock Down 0.6 %

NYSE:PGR traded down $1.55 on Friday, hitting $237.44. 865,128 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,064,294. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $251.48 and a 200-day moving average price of $240.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a current ratio of 0.30 and a quick ratio of 0.30. Progressive has a 52 week low of $164.98 and a 52 week high of $270.62. The company has a market cap of $139.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.70 and a beta of 0.41.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 15th. The insurance provider reported $3.58 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.40 by $0.18. The company had revenue of $19.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $18.95 billion. Progressive had a net margin of 11.27% and a return on equity of 33.10%. As a group, analysts expect that Progressive will post 13.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Progressive

In other news, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $268.09, for a total transaction of $2,680,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 292,958 shares in the company, valued at $78,539,110.22. This represents a 3.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Steven Broz sold 2,981 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, October 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $251.15, for a total transaction of $748,678.15. Following the sale, the insider now owns 26,353 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,618,555.95. This trade represents a 10.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 32,919 shares of company stock worth $8,222,168. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Progressive

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Davis Capital Management bought a new stake in Progressive in the third quarter valued at $25,000. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. increased its stake in Progressive by 114.1% in the third quarter. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. now owns 137 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 73 shares in the last quarter. Kimelman & Baird LLC acquired a new position in shares of Progressive during the second quarter valued at about $36,000. Friedenthal Financial acquired a new position in shares of Progressive during the third quarter valued at about $49,000. Finally, Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Progressive during the third quarter valued at about $49,000. 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.