Progressive (NYSE:PGR) Upgraded at The Goldman Sachs Group

The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Progressive (NYSE:PGR) from a neutral rating to a buy rating in a report issued on Thursday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The Goldman Sachs Group currently has $262.00 price objective on the insurance provider’s stock, up from their previous price objective of $230.00.

Several other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on PGR. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Progressive from $243.00 to $254.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research report on Monday, June 17th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of Progressive from a market perform rating to an outperform rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $210.00 to $245.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Progressive from $216.00 to $218.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Progressive from a hold rating to a strong-buy rating in a research report on Monday, August 12th. Finally, Roth Mkm reiterated a buy rating and issued a $235.00 price target on shares of Progressive in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Progressive presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $234.41.

Progressive Trading Down 0.4 %

Progressive stock opened at $235.88 on Thursday. Progressive has a 52 week low of $129.31 and a 52 week high of $238.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 0.31 and a current ratio of 0.31. The stock has a market capitalization of $138.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.14, a PEG ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 0.35. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $214.15 and a 200 day simple moving average of $206.30.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 16th. The insurance provider reported $2.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.04 by $0.61. The firm had revenue of $17.90 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.54 billion. Progressive had a net margin of 10.17% and a return on equity of 33.01%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 21.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.57 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Progressive will post 12.02 earnings per share for the current year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 3rd. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.17%. Progressive’s payout ratio is presently 4.09%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Progressive news, insider John Jo Murphy sold 9,512 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $237.50, for a total transaction of $2,259,100.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 45,787 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,874,412.50. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other Progressive news, insider John Jo Murphy sold 9,512 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $237.50, for a total transaction of $2,259,100.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 45,787 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,874,412.50. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Susan Patricia Griffith sold 43,371 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $214.01, for a total transaction of $9,281,827.71. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 517,105 shares in the company, valued at approximately $110,665,641.05. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 110,319 shares of company stock valued at $23,671,517. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Progressive

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Second Line Capital LLC grew its stake in shares of Progressive by 3.3% in the second quarter. Second Line Capital LLC now owns 12,631 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,624,000 after purchasing an additional 409 shares during the last quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. lifted its holdings in Progressive by 21.3% in the second quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 262 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $54,000 after buying an additional 46 shares during the period. Front Row Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Progressive by 229.4% in the second quarter. Front Row Advisors LLC now owns 2,286 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $475,000 after buying an additional 1,592 shares during the period. NewEdge Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Progressive by 20.6% in the second quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 30,429 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $6,320,000 after buying an additional 5,199 shares during the period. Finally, Nemes Rush Group LLC lifted its holdings in Progressive by 197.5% in the second quarter. Nemes Rush Group LLC now owns 592 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $123,000 after buying an additional 393 shares during the period. 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.