Bahl & Gaynor Inc. Acquires 51,589 Shares of The Travelers Companies, Inc. (NYSE:TRV)

Bahl & Gaynor Inc. grew its holdings in shares of The Travelers Companies, Inc. (NYSE:TRV) by 4.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,189,236 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 51,589 shares during the period. Travelers Companies makes up 1.5% of Bahl & Gaynor Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 22nd largest holding. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. owned about 0.52% of Travelers Companies worth $286,475,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. YANKCOM Partnership acquired a new stake in Travelers Companies in the fourth quarter worth $27,000. True Wealth Design LLC bought a new position in shares of Travelers Companies during the 3rd quarter worth about $41,000. Asset Planning Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Travelers Companies in the 4th quarter valued at about $44,000. Providence First Trust Co bought a new stake in Travelers Companies in the 4th quarter valued at about $48,000. Finally, Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Travelers Companies during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $50,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.45% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have commented on TRV. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Travelers Companies from $213.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. HSBC upgraded shares of Travelers Companies from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $290.00 price target for the company in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $268.00 price objective (down from $273.00) on shares of Travelers Companies in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Travelers Companies from $275.00 to $297.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of Travelers Companies from a “sell” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $278.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $261.05.

Travelers Companies Stock Performance

Shares of TRV stock opened at $260.77 on Tuesday. The Travelers Companies, Inc. has a 52 week low of $200.21 and a 52 week high of $269.55. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $243.60 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $243.72. The firm has a market cap of $59.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.15, a P/E/G ratio of 4.65 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.33 and a current ratio of 0.33.

Travelers Companies (NYSE:TRV) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 22nd. The insurance provider reported $9.15 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.50 by $2.65. Travelers Companies had a return on equity of 19.06% and a net margin of 10.77%. The business had revenue of $12.01 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.80 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $7.01 earnings per share. Travelers Companies’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that The Travelers Companies, Inc. will post 17.02 earnings per share for the current year.

Travelers Companies Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be paid a dividend of $1.05 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $4.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.61%. Travelers Companies’s payout ratio is 19.56%.

Travelers Companies 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.