LRT Capital Management LLC Sells 6,979 Shares of The Travelers Companies, Inc. $TRV

LRT Capital Management LLC trimmed its stake in shares of The Travelers Companies, Inc. (NYSE:TRV) by 64.9% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 3,779 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 6,979 shares during the quarter. LRT Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Travelers Companies were worth $1,096,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Travelers Companies by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 22,109,933 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $6,413,207,000 after buying an additional 110,311 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Travelers Companies by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 16,000,457 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $4,641,093,000 after buying an additional 486,861 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Travelers Companies by 1.6% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 7,746,231 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,162,917,000 after buying an additional 119,481 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley lifted its holdings in shares of Travelers Companies by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 3,793,750 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,100,416,000 after buying an additional 85,298 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Travelers Companies by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,361,112 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $974,993,000 after buying an additional 81,497 shares in the last quarter. 82.45% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Travelers Companies Trading Up 0.2%

Shares of Travelers Companies stock opened at $304.62 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $64.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.06, a PEG ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a quick ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 0.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The Travelers Companies, Inc. has a 12-month low of $249.19 and a 12-month high of $313.12. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $300.22 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $294.52.

Travelers Companies (NYSE:TRV) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 16th. The insurance provider reported $7.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.80 by $0.91. The firm had revenue of $11.92 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.11 billion. Travelers Companies had a net margin of 15.54% and a return on equity of 24.06%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.91 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that The Travelers Companies, Inc. will post 28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Travelers Companies Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, June 10th will be paid a dividend of $1.25 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 10th. This is a positive change from Travelers Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.10. This represents a $5.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.6%. Travelers Companies’s dividend payout ratio is currently 14.88%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

TRV has been the subject of a number of research reports. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Travelers Companies from $285.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 9th. Evercore reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Travelers Companies in a report on Friday, April 17th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on Travelers Companies from $297.00 to $314.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, April 20th. Barclays downgraded Travelers Companies from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $331.00 to $295.00 in a report on Friday. Finally, Bank of America dropped their target price on Travelers Companies from $259.00 to $257.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 14th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Travelers Companies has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $309.07.

Insider Activity

In other Travelers Companies news, Vice Chairman William H. Heyman sold 1,557 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $310.64, for a total transaction of $483,666.48. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 259,590 shares in the company, valued at $80,639,037.60. This represents a 0.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Jeffrey P. Klenk sold 6,414 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $305.06, for a total transaction of $1,956,654.84. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 6,075 shares in the company, valued at $1,853,239.50. The trade was a 51.36% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last three months, insiders sold 37,573 shares of company stock valued at $11,504,146. Company insiders own 1.39% of the company’s stock.

About Travelers Companies

The Travelers Companies, Inc (NYSE: TRV) is a leading provider of property and casualty insurance products and services. The company underwrites a broad range of commercial and personal insurance lines, offering coverage designed to protect individuals, small and midsize businesses, and large corporate clients against property loss, liability, and other operational risks. Travelers is known for combining underwriting, claims management and risk control services to help clients prevent losses and recover when incidents occur.

On the commercial side, Travelers writes primary and specialty coverages including property, general liability, commercial auto, workers’ compensation, professional and management liability, surety and inland marine.