The Progressive Co. (PGR) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.10 on January 16th

The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) declared a quarterly dividend on Monday, December 9th,RTT News reports. Investors of record on Thursday, January 9th will be paid a dividend of 0.10 per share by the insurance provider on Thursday, January 16th. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.16%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, January 9th.

Progressive has a dividend payout ratio of 2.9% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Progressive to earn $13.81 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 2.9%.

Progressive Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE PGR opened at $247.30 on Wednesday. Progressive has a 1-year low of $149.14 and a 1-year high of $270.62. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $254.52 and a 200 day moving average price of $235.83. The stock has a market capitalization of $144.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.70 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a current ratio of 0.30 and a quick ratio of 0.30.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The insurance provider reported $3.58 EPS 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 business had revenue of $19.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $18.95 billion. Equities research analysts expect that Progressive will post 13.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PGR has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Progressive from $267.00 to $277.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on Progressive from $262.00 to $280.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. Bank of America lifted their price target on Progressive from $331.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Progressive from $281.00 to $282.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their price objective on Progressive from $277.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $270.69.

Insider Activity at Progressive

In other Progressive news, insider Patrick K. Callahan sold 7,696 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, September 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $255.21, for a total transaction of $1,964,096.16. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 15,189 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,876,384.69. This trade represents a 33.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Dyke Kahina Van sold 2,180 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $252.28, for a total transaction of $549,970.40. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 13,723 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,462,038.44. This represents a 13.71 % decrease in their position. 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 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

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.