Anchor Investment Management LLC Grows Holdings in The Travelers Companies, Inc. $TRV

Anchor Investment Management LLC boosted its position in The Travelers Companies, Inc. (NYSE:TRV) by 161.6% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,885 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,782 shares during the period. Anchor Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Travelers Companies were worth $806,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co increased its position in shares of Travelers Companies by 21.7% during the 3rd quarter. Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co now owns 48,247 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $13,472,000 after purchasing an additional 8,600 shares during the last quarter. Liberty One Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Travelers Companies by 32.3% in the 3rd quarter. Liberty One Investment Management LLC now owns 26,228 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $7,323,000 after buying an additional 6,408 shares during the last quarter. National Pension Service grew its position in Travelers Companies by 1.8% during the third quarter. National Pension Service now owns 746,883 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $208,545,000 after buying an additional 13,120 shares during the period. Peregrine Asset Advisers Inc. bought a new position in Travelers Companies during the third quarter valued at about $7,955,000. Finally, CWM LLC increased its holdings in Travelers Companies by 11.3% during the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 135,143 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $37,735,000 after buying an additional 13,758 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.45% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

TRV has been the topic of several research reports. Mizuho lowered their price objective on shares of Travelers Companies from $315.00 to $304.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Argus upgraded shares of Travelers Companies to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 26th. Zacks Research cut shares of Travelers Companies from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, December 22nd. UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Travelers Companies in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Travelers Companies from $285.00 to $295.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, November 17th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $304.33.

Travelers Companies Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:TRV opened at $302.54 on Monday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $292.03 and a 200 day moving average of $284.43. The stock has a market cap of $65.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.99, a P/E/G ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 0.49. The Travelers Companies, Inc. has a 12 month low of $230.43 and a 12 month high of $313.12. The company has a current ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 0.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28.

Travelers Companies (NYSE:TRV) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 21st. The insurance provider reported $11.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $8.34 by $2.79. The business had revenue of $12.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.13 billion. Travelers Companies had a net margin of 12.88% and a return on equity of 20.70%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $9.15 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that The Travelers Companies, Inc. will post 17.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Travelers Companies Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 10th will be given a $1.10 dividend. This represents a $4.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.5%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 10th. Travelers Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 15.98%.

Travelers Companies announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, January 21st that authorizes the company to repurchase $5.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the insurance provider to repurchase up to 8.3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Jeffrey P. Klenk sold 16,712 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $279.77, for a total transaction of $4,675,516.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 6,075 shares in the company, valued at $1,699,602.75. The trade was a 73.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Michael Frederick Klein sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $301.18, for a total value of $3,011,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 33,638 shares in the company, valued at $10,131,092.84. This represents a 22.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 92,845 shares of company stock worth $27,239,631 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 1.46% 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.