Barclays Cuts Everest Group (NYSE:EG) Price Target to $394.00

Everest Group (NYSE:EG) had its price objective trimmed by Barclays from $470.00 to $394.00 in a research note published on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an overweight rating on the stock.

EG has been the subject of several other reports. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Everest Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from $376.00 to $415.00 in a research report on Friday. BMO Capital Markets downgraded shares of Everest Group from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $453.00 to $375.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on Everest Group from $370.00 to $362.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. UBS Group lowered their price objective on Everest Group from $375.00 to $372.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Morgan Stanley reaffirmed 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. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $396.00.

Everest Group Trading Up 2.5 %

Shares of EG opened at $349.79 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $16.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.14, a P/E/G ratio of 0.24 and a beta of 0.43. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $348.82 and its 200-day simple moving average is $363.47. Everest Group has a twelve month low of $320.00 and a twelve 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 posted its earnings results on Monday, February 3rd. The company reported ($18.39) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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, analysts expect that Everest Group will post 47.93 EPS for the current year.

Everest Group Dividend Announcement

The company 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. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 17th. This represents a $8.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.29%. Everest Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 25.47%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Everest Group

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of EG. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Everest Group by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,560,030 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,015,288,000 after acquiring an additional 43,793 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Everest Group during the 4th quarter worth approximately $488,588,000. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Everest Group by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,281,611 shares of the company’s stock valued at $464,533,000 after purchasing an additional 4,544 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Everest Group by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,164,081 shares of the company’s stock valued at $424,344,000 after purchasing an additional 8,321 shares during the period. Finally, Vulcan Value Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Everest Group by 279.1% during the fourth quarter. Vulcan Value Partners LLC now owns 978,713 shares of the company’s stock worth $354,768,000 after buying an additional 720,572 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.