The Travelers Companies, Inc. Plans Quarterly Dividend of $1.05 (NYSE:TRV)

The Travelers Companies, Inc. (NYSE:TRV) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, January 23rd,Wall Street Journal reports. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th will be paid a dividend of 1.05 per share by the insurance provider on Monday, March 31st. This represents a $4.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.74%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th.

Travelers Companies has increased its dividend payment by an average of 5.9% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 20 consecutive years. Travelers Companies has a dividend payout ratio of 18.3% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Travelers Companies to earn $20.36 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $4.20 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 20.6%.

Travelers Companies Stock Performance

TRV traded down $5.80 on Thursday, hitting $240.93. 856,042 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,497,176. Travelers Companies has a 52 week low of $200.21 and a 52 week high of $269.55. The company has a current ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 0.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The firm has a market capitalization of $54.69 billion, a PE ratio of 12.34, a P/E/G ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 0.65. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $248.61 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $236.77.

Travelers Companies (NYSE:TRV) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The insurance provider reported $9.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.50 by $2.65. Travelers Companies had a return on equity of 17.69% and a net margin of 10.02%. The firm had revenue of $12.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10,795,375 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $7.01 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 9.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that Travelers Companies will post 19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Andy F. Bessette sold 4,520 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $253.46, for a total value of $1,145,639.20. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 16,976 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,302,736.96. This represents a 21.03 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Vice Chairman William H. Heyman sold 3,740 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $264.80, for a total value of $990,352.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 250,384 shares in the company, valued at approximately $66,301,683.20. This trade represents a 1.47 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 18,670 shares of company stock valued at $4,861,329. 1.33% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on TRV. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on Travelers Companies from $233.00 to $270.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Hsbc Global Res upgraded Travelers Companies from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Bank of America upped their price objective on Travelers Companies from $241.00 to $265.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Roth Mkm upped their price objective on Travelers Companies from $240.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price objective on Travelers Companies from $273.00 to $268.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Travelers Companies presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $255.53.

Travelers Companies Company Profile

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.