Citigroup Raises Progressive (NYSE:PGR) Price Target to $225.00

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) had its target price raised by Citigroup from $202.00 to $225.00 in a report issued on Monday morning, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a neutral rating on the insurance provider’s stock.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Progressive from $171.00 to $202.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. HSBC increased their price target on shares of Progressive from $174.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a hold rating in a research report on Thursday, March 28th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of Progressive from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. Roth Mkm increased their price target on shares of Progressive from $215.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Monday, March 18th. Finally, UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Progressive from $159.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Progressive presently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $211.88.

Progressive Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:PGR opened at $209.12 on Monday. Progressive has a one year low of $111.41 and a one year high of $212.24. The firm has a market capitalization of $122.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.40, a PEG ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 0.35. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $198.74 and its 200-day moving average price is $174.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 0.36 and a quick ratio of 0.31.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 12th. The insurance provider reported $3.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.20 by $0.74. Progressive had a net margin of 8.89% and a return on equity of 29.43%. The company had revenue of $18.96 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.88 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.65 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 17.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Progressive will post 10.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 4th were paid a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, April 3rd. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.19%. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio is currently 4.09%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Progressive

In other Progressive news, insider Patrick K. Callahan sold 29,675 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.26, for a total transaction of $5,645,965.50. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 15,189 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,889,859.14. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, insider Karen Bailo sold 8,464 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $189.49, for a total value of $1,603,843.36. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 32,342 shares in the company, valued at $6,128,485.58. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Patrick K. Callahan sold 29,675 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.26, for a total transaction of $5,645,965.50. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 15,189 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,889,859.14. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.34% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Progressive

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in PGR. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Progressive in the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,078,831,000. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Progressive in the fourth quarter worth approximately $840,885,000. Viking Global Investors LP boosted its holdings in shares of Progressive by 412.0% in the fourth quarter. Viking Global Investors LP now owns 5,863,559 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $933,948,000 after buying an additional 4,718,237 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in shares of Progressive by 14.1% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 21,554,503 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $3,002,542,000 after buying an additional 2,666,449 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted its holdings in shares of Progressive by 25.4% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 6,721,345 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $871,826,000 after buying an additional 1,361,665 shares during the last quarter. 85.34% of the stock is currently owned by 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.