BMO Capital Markets Cuts Progressive (NYSE:PGR) Price Target to $267.00

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) had its target price lowered by investment analysts at BMO Capital Markets from $273.00 to $267.00 in a research note issued to investors on Monday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “outperform” rating on the insurance provider’s stock. BMO Capital Markets’ price target indicates a potential upside of 6.04% from the stock’s current price.

PGR has been the subject of several other reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Progressive from $242.00 to $251.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Progressive from $281.00 to $282.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. TD Cowen raised their target price on Progressive from $197.00 to $237.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 8th. Hsbc Global Res downgraded shares of Progressive from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of Progressive from $277.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $272.56.

Progressive Price Performance

Shares of PGR stock opened at $251.80 on Monday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $253.91 and its 200-day moving average is $237.02. The firm has a market capitalization of $147.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.30, a PEG ratio of 0.70 and a beta of 0.38. Progressive has a 1 year low of $149.14 and a 1 year high of $270.62. The company has a current ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 15th. The insurance provider reported $3.58 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.40 by $0.18. The business had revenue of $19.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $18.95 billion. Progressive had a net margin of 11.27% and a return on equity of 33.10%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Progressive will post 13.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Progressive

In related news, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 29th. The stock was 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 directly owns 292,958 shares in the company, valued at $78,539,110.22. The trade was a 3.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Dyke Kahina Van sold 2,180 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $252.28, for a total transaction of $549,970.40. Following the transaction, the director now owns 13,723 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,462,038.44. The trade was a 13.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 25,839 shares of company stock worth $6,718,965. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Progressive

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of PGR. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Progressive by 13.2% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,425,792 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $3,652,235,000 after purchasing an additional 1,682,213 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC increased its position in Progressive by 21.6% during the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 4,749,628 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,205,266,000 after buying an additional 842,109 shares in the last quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec raised its stake in Progressive by 75.3% in the third quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 1,494,084 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $379,139,000 after buying an additional 641,943 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Progressive by 29,701.6% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 596,331 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $151,325,000 after acquiring an additional 594,330 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC grew its stake in shares of Progressive by 206.8% during the third quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 875,660 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $222,207,000 after acquiring an additional 590,235 shares during the last quarter. 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.