Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Issues Pessimistic Forecast for Progressive (NYSE:PGR) Stock Price

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) had its price objective decreased by stock analysts at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $295.00 to $294.00 in a report issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “outperform” rating on the insurance provider’s stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods’ price target points to a potential upside of 23.82% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently commented on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on shares of Progressive from $257.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $310.00 price objective on shares of Progressive in a research note on Friday, December 13th. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on shares of Progressive from $273.00 to $267.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Progressive from $299.00 to $302.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Progressive from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $275.24.

Progressive Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE PGR traded down $1.55 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $237.44. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 865,128 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,064,294. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $251.48 and a 200 day moving average price of $240.97. Progressive has a one year low of $164.98 and a one year high of $270.62. The company has a current ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. The firm has a market capitalization of $139.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.26, a P/E/G ratio of 0.70 and a beta of 0.41.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The insurance provider reported $3.58 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.40 by $0.18. Progressive had a net margin of 11.27% and a return on equity of 33.10%. The business had revenue of $19.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $18.95 billion. On average, research analysts forecast that Progressive will post 13.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other Progressive news, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction on Friday, November 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $268.09, for a total transaction of $2,680,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 292,958 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $78,539,110.22. The trade was a 3.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Andrew J. Quigg sold 681 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction on Friday, January 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $242.10, for a total transaction of $164,870.10. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 33,612 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,137,465.20. The trade was a 1.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 32,919 shares of company stock worth $8,222,168 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Progressive

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Fulton Bank N.A. raised its holdings in Progressive by 7.6% in the fourth quarter. Fulton Bank N.A. now owns 5,983 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,434,000 after purchasing an additional 425 shares in the last quarter. Sterneck Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Progressive in the fourth quarter worth about $246,000. Range Financial Group LLC bought a new position in Progressive in the fourth quarter worth about $308,000. Bank of New Hampshire raised its holdings in Progressive by 30.4% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New Hampshire now owns 450 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $108,000 after purchasing an additional 105 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Market Strategies LLC raised its holdings in Progressive by 28.8% in the fourth quarter. Capital Market Strategies LLC now owns 1,665 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $399,000 after purchasing an additional 372 shares in the last quarter. 85.34% of the stock is 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.