Everest Group, Ltd. (NYSE:EG) Given Average Recommendation of “Hold” by Analysts

Everest Group, Ltd. (NYSE:EG) has been assigned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the nine analysts that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and three have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $416.50.

EG has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley restated an “equal weight” rating and set a $340.00 target price (down from $425.00) on shares of Everest Group in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on shares of Everest Group from $420.00 to $434.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Everest Group from $390.00 to $380.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Everest Group from $461.00 to $470.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets downgraded shares of Everest Group from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $453.00 to $375.00 in a report on Thursday, January 30th.

Everest Group Price Performance

EG stock opened at $361.50 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $351.43 and a 200-day moving average of $366.55. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.24 and a beta of 0.61. Everest Group has a 12 month low of $327.37 and a 12 month high of $407.30. The company has a current ratio of 0.40, a quick ratio of 0.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26.

Everest Group (NYSE:EG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 3rd. The company reported ($18.39) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $11.64 by ($30.03). Everest Group had a net margin of 7.95% and a return on equity of 9.04%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Everest Group will post 47.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Everest Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Monday, March 17th were given a $2.00 dividend. This represents a $8.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.21%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 17th. Everest Group’s payout ratio is presently 25.47%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Everest Group news, Director Geraldine Losquadro sold 1,500 shares of Everest Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $360.63, for a total value of $540,945.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 12,279 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,428,175.77. The trade was a 10.89 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 1.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC raised its holdings in Everest Group by 12.4% during the 4th quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 4,680 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,696,000 after buying an additional 517 shares during the last quarter. Lansforsakringar Fondforvaltning AB publ purchased a new position in shares of Everest Group in the fourth quarter valued at about $3,713,000. Park Square Financial Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Everest Group during the fourth quarter valued at about $104,000. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH bought a new position in shares of Everest Group during the fourth quarter valued at about $12,597,000. Finally, Talaria Asset Management Pty Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Everest Group during the fourth quarter worth about $28,417,000. Institutional investors own 92.64% of the company’s stock.

About Everest Group

Everest Group, Ltd., through its subsidiaries, provides reinsurance and insurance products in the United States, Europe, and internationally. The company operates through two segment, Insurance and Reinsurance. The Reinsurance segment writes property and casualty reinsurance; and specialty lines of business through reinsurance brokers, as well as directly with ceding companies in the United States, Bermuda, Ireland, Canada, Singapore, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom.