Progressive (NYSE:PGR) Given Overweight Rating at Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley reaffirmed their overweight rating on shares of Progressive (NYSE:PGR - Free Report) in a research report released on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $310.00 target price on the insurance provider's stock.

PGR has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Barclays lifted their target price on Progressive from $267.00 to $277.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Roth Mkm boosted their price objective on shares of Progressive from $270.00 to $290.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. Evercore ISI increased their target price on shares of Progressive from $277.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on shares of Progressive from $257.00 to $295.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, StockNews.com raised 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 twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $270.69.

Progressive Stock Performance

Shares of PGR traded up $9.04 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $251.80. The company had a trading volume of 3,286,188 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,484,099. The business has a fifty day moving average of $253.91 and a 200-day moving average of $236.56. The company has a quick ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 0.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. The firm has a market cap of $147.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.30, a PEG ratio of 0.68 and a beta of 0.38. Progressive has a 12 month low of $149.14 and a 12 month high of $270.62.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The insurance provider reported $3.58 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.40 by $0.18. Progressive had a net margin of 11.27% and a return on equity of 33.10%. The firm had revenue of $19.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $18.95 billion. Equities analysts anticipate that Progressive will post 13.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 16th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 9th will be paid a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, January 9th. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.16%. Progressive's payout ratio is currently 2.91%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $268.09, for a total value of $2,680,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 292,958 shares in the company, valued at $78,539,110.22. This trade represents a 3.30 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Steven Broz sold 2,982 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $260.00, for a total transaction of $775,320.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 29,334 shares in the company, valued at $7,626,840. The trade was a 9.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 25,839 shares of company stock worth $6,718,965 in the last three months. 0.34% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Progressive

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Progressive by 1.3% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 24,683,807 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $6,263,763,000 after acquiring an additional 315,411 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Progressive by 13.2% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,425,792 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $3,652,235,000 after purchasing an additional 1,682,213 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its position in shares of Progressive by 1.6% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 10,518,615 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $2,669,204,000 after buying an additional 170,618 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its position in shares of Progressive by 7.0% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 5,067,924 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $1,286,036,000 after buying an additional 330,667 shares during the period. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc raised its stake in Progressive by 1.9% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 4,922,743 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $1,022,507,000 after buying an additional 92,212 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 85.34% of the company's stock.

Progressive Company Profile

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.