Morgan Stanley Increases Progressive (NYSE:PGR) Price Target to $300.00

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) had its price target boosted by Morgan Stanley from $260.00 to $300.00 in a research report sent to investors on Monday, Benzinga reports. They currently have an overweight rating on the insurance provider’s stock.

Several other analysts have also recently commented on PGR. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on shares of Progressive from $256.00 to $257.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Progressive from $281.00 to $282.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on Progressive from $239.00 to $237.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Progressive from $210.00 to $239.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research note on Thursday, July 11th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Progressive from a neutral rating to a buy rating and lifted their price target for the company from $230.00 to $262.00 in a research report on Thursday, August 15th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $257.18.

Progressive Trading Down 1.0 %

NYSE:PGR opened at $255.17 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 0.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $233.24 and a 200-day simple moving average of $216.58. Progressive has a 12 month low of $137.59 and a 12 month high of $260.46. The company has a market capitalization of $149.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.12, a PEG ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.35.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 16th. The insurance provider reported $2.65 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.04 by $0.61. Progressive had a return on equity of 33.01% and a net margin of 10.17%. The business had revenue of $17.90 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.54 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.57 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 21.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Progressive will post 12.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.16%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 3rd. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio is currently 4.09%.

Insider Activity at Progressive

In other news, CEO Susan Patricia Griffith sold 43,370 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $252.20, for a total transaction of $10,937,914.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 473,735 shares in the company, valued at $119,475,967. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Progressive news, insider Steven Broz sold 3,050 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $209.81, for a total transaction of $639,920.50. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 32,453 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,808,963.93. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Susan Patricia Griffith sold 43,370 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $252.20, for a total transaction of $10,937,914.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 473,735 shares in the company, valued at approximately $119,475,967. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 146,704 shares of company stock valued at $33,367,408 over the last quarter. 0.34% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Progressive

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of PGR. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Progressive by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 51,751,851 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $10,703,318,000 after purchasing an additional 285,070 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors increased its holdings in shares of Progressive by 15.7% during the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 4,925,019 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,018,592,000 after buying an additional 670,006 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its stake in shares of Progressive by 1.9% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 4,922,743 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,022,507,000 after purchasing an additional 92,212 shares in the last quarter. FIL Ltd increased its position in shares of Progressive by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 4,885,731 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $778,199,000 after acquiring an additional 19,724 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Baird Financial Group Inc. raised its position in Progressive by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,577,731 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $569,861,000 after purchasing an additional 86,686 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

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.