MetLife Investment Management LLC Cuts Stock Position in The Travelers Companies, Inc. (NYSE:TRV)

MetLife Investment Management LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of The Travelers Companies, Inc. (NYSE:TRV) by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 59,276 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 1,793 shares during the quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Travelers Companies were worth $13,878,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. FMR LLC raised its position in Travelers Companies by 12.6% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 14,048,691 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $3,289,079,000 after acquiring an additional 1,568,909 shares during the period. Acadian Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Travelers Companies by 356.4% during the 2nd quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 868,563 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $176,589,000 after purchasing an additional 678,241 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Travelers Companies by 23,378.8% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 520,291 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $121,811,000 after buying an additional 518,075 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can boosted its holdings in Travelers Companies by 66.9% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 705,793 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $166,645,000 after buying an additional 282,884 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its stake in Travelers Companies by 324.9% during the 2nd quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 301,584 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $61,324,000 after buying an additional 230,612 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.45% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on TRV shares. Bank of America raised their target price on Travelers Companies from $241.00 to $265.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Travelers Companies from $207.00 to $256.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Travelers Companies from $244.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Travelers Companies from $286.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Travelers Companies from $250.00 to $273.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have assigned a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Travelers Companies has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $251.15.

Travelers Companies Price Performance

Shares of TRV opened at $266.66 on Thursday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $248.18 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $226.96. The stock has a market cap of $60.54 billion, a PE ratio of 13.67, a P/E/G ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.62. The Travelers Companies, Inc. has a 1-year low of $175.88 and a 1-year high of $269.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 0.34 and a quick ratio of 0.34.

Travelers Companies (NYSE:TRV) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The insurance provider reported $5.24 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.79 by $1.45. Travelers Companies had a net margin of 10.02% and a return on equity of 17.69%. The firm had revenue of $11.90 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.46 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.95 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that The Travelers Companies, Inc. will post 18.83 EPS for the current year.

Travelers Companies Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 10th will be issued a $1.05 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 10th. This represents a $4.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.58%. Travelers Companies’s dividend payout ratio is presently 21.54%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Vice Chairman William H. Heyman sold 3,740 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $264.80, for a total transaction of $990,352.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 250,384 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $66,301,683.20. This represents a 1.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Diane Kurtzman sold 3,941 shares of Travelers Companies stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $260.45, for a total transaction of $1,026,433.45. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 1,715 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $446,671.75. This trade represents a 69.68 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 78,149 shares of company stock valued at $20,295,856. Corporate insiders own 1.33% of the company’s stock.

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.