Progressive (NYSE:PGR) Upgraded to Strong-Buy at Hsbc Global Res

Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Progressive (NYSE:PGR) from a hold rating to a strong-buy rating in a research note published on Monday morning, Zacks.com reports.

Other analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on Progressive from $256.00 to $257.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Progressive from $243.00 to $254.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research report on Monday, June 17th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Progressive from $216.00 to $218.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on shares of Progressive from $239.00 to $237.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Citigroup decreased their price target on shares of Progressive from $232.00 to $225.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Progressive presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $234.41.

Progressive Stock Performance

NYSE PGR opened at $236.76 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 0.31 and a quick ratio of 0.31. The company has a market cap of $138.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.23, a P/E/G ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 0.35. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $213.68 and a two-hundred day moving average of $205.71. Progressive has a 1-year low of $129.31 and a 1-year high of $238.45.

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

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 11th. Investors 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 yield of 0.17%. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio is presently 4.09%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 22,708 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $214.01, for a total value of $4,859,739.08. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 302,958 shares in the company, valued at approximately $64,836,041.58. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Progressive news, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 12,457 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $204.43, for a total transaction of $2,546,584.51. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 312,958 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $63,978,003.94. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 22,708 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $214.01, for a total value of $4,859,739.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 302,958 shares in the company, valued at approximately $64,836,041.58. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 100,807 shares of company stock valued at $21,412,417 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Progressive

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Progressive by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 51,751,851 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $10,703,318,000 after buying an additional 285,070 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its holdings in Progressive by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 14,935,652 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,378,951,000 after acquiring an additional 520,742 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Progressive in the fourth quarter valued at $1,078,831,000. Capital International Investors grew its stake in shares of Progressive by 15.7% during the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 4,925,019 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,018,592,000 after purchasing an additional 670,006 shares during the period. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc grew its stake in shares of Progressive by 1.9% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 4,922,743 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,022,507,000 after purchasing an additional 92,212 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.