The Progressive Co. (PGR) To Go Ex-Dividend on October 3rd

The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) announced a quarterly dividend on Monday, August 5th, Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 3rd will be paid a dividend of 0.10 per share by the insurance provider on Friday, October 11th. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.19%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 3rd.

Progressive has a payout ratio of 3.2% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Progressive to earn $12.66 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.40 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 3.2%.

Progressive Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of PGR stock traded up $0.54 on Wednesday, hitting $214.59. The stock had a trading volume of 83,070 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,560,010. Progressive has a 52-week low of $124.06 and a 52-week high of $229.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $125.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.90, a P/E/G ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 0.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 0.32 and a current ratio of 0.33. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $211.61 and its 200-day moving average is $203.71.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, July 16th. The insurance provider reported $2.65 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.04 by $0.61. The company had revenue of $17.90 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.54 billion. Progressive had a return on equity of 33.01% and a net margin of 10.17%. The company’s revenue was up 21.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.57 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Progressive will post 12.02 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Steven Broz sold 7,361 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $207.25, for a total value of $1,525,567.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 35,503 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,357,996.75. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In related news, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 12,457 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief financial officer now owns 312,958 shares in the company, valued at $63,978,003.94. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Steven Broz sold 7,361 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $207.25, for a total transaction of $1,525,567.25. Following the sale, the insider now owns 35,503 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,357,996.75. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 108,168 shares of company stock worth $22,937,984 over the last three months. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have issued reports on PGR. Roth Mkm restated a “buy” rating and set a $235.00 price objective on shares of Progressive in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Progressive from $243.00 to $254.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, June 17th. Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of Progressive from $232.00 to $225.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised shares of Progressive from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $210.00 to $245.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Progressive from $276.00 to $293.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $222.94.

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.