UBS Group Increases Progressive (NYSE:PGR) Price Target to $218.00

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) had its price objective raised by investment analysts at UBS Group from $216.00 to $218.00 in a report issued on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “neutral” rating on the insurance provider’s stock. UBS Group’s price target suggests a potential upside of 4.53% from the company’s previous close.

PGR has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on Progressive from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $240.00 price objective on shares of Progressive in a research note on Monday, April 1st. TD Cowen began coverage on Progressive in a research report on Wednesday, January 10th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $174.00 target price on the stock. HSBC lifted their target price on Progressive from $174.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 28th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Progressive from $171.00 to $202.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Progressive presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $211.88.

Progressive Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:PGR traded up $0.20 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $208.55. The stock had a trading volume of 2,468,759 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,588,250. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 0.31 and a current ratio of 0.36. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $198.20 and a 200-day moving average price of $174.08. The stock has a market cap of $122.15 billion, a PE ratio of 21.33, a PEG ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 0.35. Progressive has a 1-year low of $111.41 and a 1-year high of $212.24.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Progressive news, insider Karen Bailo sold 8,464 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $189.49, for a total transaction of $1,603,843.36. Following the sale, the insider now owns 32,342 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,128,485.58. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, insider Karen Bailo sold 8,464 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $189.49, for a total transaction of $1,603,843.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 32,342 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,128,485.58. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Patrick K. Callahan sold 29,675 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.26, for a total value of $5,645,965.50. Following the transaction, the insider now directly 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

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Giverny Capital Inc. boosted its position in shares of Progressive by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter. Giverny Capital Inc. now owns 501,431 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $69,849,000 after purchasing an additional 14,022 shares during the period. AIA Group Ltd boosted its position in shares of Progressive by 4.9% in the 3rd quarter. AIA Group Ltd now owns 155,427 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $21,651,000 after purchasing an additional 7,268 shares during the period. Invesco LLC boosted its position in shares of Progressive by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Invesco LLC now owns 3,537 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $563,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares during the period. Strs Ohio boosted its position in shares of Progressive by 3.1% in the 4th quarter. Strs Ohio now owns 168,187 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $26,788,000 after purchasing an additional 4,983 shares during the period. Finally, First Affirmative Financial Network acquired a new stake in shares of Progressive in the 4th quarter valued at about $295,000. 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.