Wells Fargo & Company Raises Progressive (NYSE:PGR) Price Target to $324.00

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) had its target price hoisted by equities researchers at Wells Fargo & Company from $320.00 to $324.00 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “overweight” rating on the insurance provider’s stock. Wells Fargo & Company‘s price objective points to a potential upside of 22.06% from the company’s current price.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on PGR. Barclays lifted their target price on Progressive from $285.00 to $297.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, April 11th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Progressive from $282.00 to $288.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday. StockNews.com downgraded Progressive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, April 4th. Bank of America boosted their price target on shares of Progressive from $289.00 to $297.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Roth Mkm lifted their price objective on shares of Progressive from $290.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $285.76.

Progressive Trading Down 3.5 %

PGR stock opened at $265.45 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 0.31 and a quick ratio of 0.30. Progressive has a 1-year low of $201.34 and a 1-year high of $292.99. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $273.91 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $257.84. The company has a market capitalization of $155.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.43, a PEG ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.38.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 16th. The insurance provider reported $4.65 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.28 by $0.37. The firm had revenue of $22.21 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $21.87 billion. Progressive had a net margin of 11.25% and a return on equity of 33.79%. Research analysts anticipate that Progressive will post 14.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Andrew J. Quigg sold 962 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $243.29, for a total value of $234,044.98. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 34,787 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,463,329.23. This trade represents a 2.69 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Carl G. Joyce sold 360 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $276.17, for a total transaction of $99,421.20. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 655 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $180,891.35. This trade represents a 35.47 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 56,317 shares of company stock worth $14,844,282. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Progressive

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Progressive during the fourth quarter valued at about $1,843,045,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in Progressive by 39,285.0% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,046,037 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $862,059,000 after purchasing an additional 3,038,303 shares in the last quarter. GQG Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Progressive by 67.6% in the fourth quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 5,171,501 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,239,143,000 after buying an additional 2,085,833 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Progressive in the fourth quarter worth $408,416,000. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors lifted its stake in shares of Progressive by 34.3% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 6,058,187 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,451,602,000 after buying an additional 1,547,677 shares during the period. 85.34% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.