Progressive (NYSE:PGR) Rating Lowered to Neutral at Bank of America

Bank of America downgraded shares of Progressive (NYSE:PGR) from a buy rating to a neutral rating in a research report report published on Friday, Marketbeat reports. Bank of America currently has $287.00 price target on the insurance provider’s stock, down from their previous price target of $300.00.

Other equities analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Progressive from $313.00 to $317.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Raymond James raised shares of Progressive from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $305.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 26th. Hsbc Global Res cut shares of Progressive from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Progressive from $275.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, March 14th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Progressive from $300.00 to $307.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $280.29.

Progressive Stock Performance

Shares of PGR stock opened at $257.27 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a current ratio of 0.31. The firm has a market cap of $150.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.87, a P/E/G ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.38. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $269.14 and its 200-day moving average price is $256.74. Progressive has a one year low of $201.34 and a one year high of $292.99.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The insurance provider reported $4.08 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.44 by $0.64. Progressive had a return on equity of 33.79% and a net margin of 11.25%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Progressive will post 14.68 EPS for the current year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be issued a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 3rd. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.16%. Progressive’s payout ratio is 2.78%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Progressive news, insider Lori A. Niederst sold 3,855 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $247.06, for a total transaction of $952,416.30. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 39,040 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,645,222.40. This trade represents a 8.99 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Andrew J. Quigg sold 962 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $243.29, for a total value of $234,044.98. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 34,787 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,463,329.23. The trade was a 2.69 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 56,317 shares of company stock worth $14,844,282 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Progressive

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Progressive in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,843,045,000. GQG Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Progressive by 67.6% in the 4th quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 5,171,501 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,239,143,000 after purchasing an additional 2,085,833 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Progressive in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $408,416,000. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Progressive by 13.2% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,425,792 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $3,652,235,000 after purchasing an additional 1,682,213 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors lifted its holdings in shares of Progressive by 34.3% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 6,058,187 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,451,602,000 after buying an additional 1,547,677 shares during the period. 85.34% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.