Progressive price target raised to $257 from $256 at Jefferies

Jefferies analyst Yaron Kinar raised the firm’s price target on Progressive to $257 from $256 and keeps a Buy rating on the shares. While investor focus has been on policy-in-force growth and loss ratio, the firm believes that the impact of scale and efficiencies on the expense ratio has been overlooked and expects a meaningful step-down in the expense ratio even as the company’s scale allows it to meaningfully outspend peers on advertising and growth, the analyst tells investors.