Brokerages Set The Travelers Companies, Inc. (NYSE:TRV) Target Price at $178.64

Shares of The Travelers Companies, Inc. (NYSE:TRV – Get Rating) have earned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the seventeen brokerages that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $178.64.

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on TRV. Credit Suisse Group upped their price target on shares of Travelers Companies from $153.00 to $178.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 25th. Evercore ISI began coverage on shares of Travelers Companies in a research note on Friday, January 21st. They set a “hold” rating and a $180.00 price target on the stock. Zacks Investment Research raised shares of Travelers Companies from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $199.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 28th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Travelers Companies from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Travelers Companies from $170.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 12th.

TRV traded down $0.59 during trading on Friday, hitting $172.78. The stock had a trading volume of 1,189,660 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,487,222. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.34 and a current ratio of 0.34. The firm has a market capitalization of $41.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.94, a PEG ratio of 3.71 and a beta of 0.70. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $178.42 and its 200 day moving average price is $167.67. Travelers Companies has a twelve month low of $144.44 and a twelve month high of $187.98.

Travelers Companies (NYSE:TRV – Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 19th. The insurance provider reported $4.22 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.61 by $0.61. Travelers Companies had a net margin of 11.18% and a return on equity of 13.78%. The business had revenue of $8.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.03 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.73 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Travelers Companies will post 13.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 10th will be issued a $0.93 dividend. This represents a $3.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.15%. This is a positive change from Travelers Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.88. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 9th. Travelers Companies’s dividend payout ratio is 22.28%.

In other news, Vice Chairman William H. Heyman sold 3,013 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $179.19, for a total transaction of $539,899.47. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 251,605 shares in the company, valued at approximately $45,085,099.95. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Diane Kurtzman sold 2,671 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $172.74, for a total transaction of $461,388.54. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 1,735 shares in the company, valued at $299,703.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 33,555 shares of company stock worth $5,951,385. 1.07% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. OLD Point Trust & Financial Services N A acquired a new stake in Travelers Companies during the 4th quarter worth approximately $221,000. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale grew its position in Travelers Companies by 22.4% in the fourth quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 100,839 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $15,843,000 after acquiring an additional 18,469 shares in the last quarter. Meyer Handelman Co. grew its position in Travelers Companies by 5.8% in the fourth quarter. Meyer Handelman Co. now owns 27,450 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $4,294,000 after acquiring an additional 1,500 shares in the last quarter. Robeco Schweiz AG grew its position in Travelers Companies by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. Robeco Schweiz AG now owns 116,290 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $18,191,000 after acquiring an additional 3,150 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Avantax Advisory Services Inc. grew its position in Travelers Companies by 6.2% in the fourth quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 13,513 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,114,000 after acquiring an additional 786 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.20% of the company’s stock.

About Travelers Companies (Get Rating)

The Travelers Companies, Inc, through its subsidiaries, provides a range of commercial and personal property, and casualty insurance products and services to businesses, government units, associations, and individuals in the United states and internationally. The company operates through three segments: Business Insurance, Bond & Specialty Insurance, and Personal Insurance.

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