B.Riley FBR Reiterates a Buy Rating on Progressive (PGR)


B.Riley FBR analyst Randy Binner reiterated a Buy rating on Progressive (PGR) yesterday and set a price target of $89. The company’s shares closed yesterday at $77.50, close to its 52-week high of $78.59.

Binner noted:

“Progressive (PGR-Buy, $89 PT) reported April operating EPS of $0.65 versus our estimate of $0.42. PGR’s loss pick was the main driver of the beat offset by higher cat and PYD. Top-line again grew double digits, continuing the trend from 1Q19 and 2018 but at a slightly lower pace, most likely due to increased competition in the market. Net premiums written (NPW) growth in the month was +13.7% Y/Y , versus our +15.0% estimate. The reported underlying loss ratio (ex-cat and PYD) came in lower at 62.7% in April, versus our 70.3% estimate. Cat losses were higher at $107M versus our $66M and prior-year development (PYD) of $26M was worse than our forecast of no development. The 20.7% expense ratio for the month was slightly higher than our estimate at 20.4%.”

According to TipRanks.com, Binner is a 5-star analyst with an average return of 13.5% and a 67.6% success rate. Binner covers the Financial sector, focusing on stocks such as Health Insurance Innovations, Victory Capital Holdings Inc, and National General Holdings.

Currently, the analyst consensus on Progressive is a Moderate Buy with an average price target of $80.

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Based on Progressive’s latest earnings release for the quarter ending March 31, the company reported a quarterly net profit of $1.08 billion. In comparison, last year the company had a net profit of $718 million.

Based on the recent corporate insider activity of 114 insiders, corporate insider sentiment is negative on the stock.

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Progressive Corp. is an insurance holding company, which engages in the provision of personal and commercial auto insurance, residential property insurance, and other specialty property-casualty insurance and related services. It operates through the following segments: Personal Lines, Commercial Lines, Property, and Other Indemnity.

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