Polar Capital Holdings Plc Grows Holdings in Everest Group, Ltd. (NYSE:EG)

Polar Capital Holdings Plc raised its holdings in shares of Everest Group, Ltd. (NYSE:EG) by 2.4% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 368,750 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 8,750 shares during the quarter. Polar Capital Holdings Plc’s holdings in Everest Group were worth $133,657,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in EG. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Everest Group in the 4th quarter valued at about $488,588,000. Vulcan Value Partners LLC boosted its position in Everest Group by 279.1% during the fourth quarter. Vulcan Value Partners LLC now owns 978,713 shares of the company’s stock valued at $354,768,000 after purchasing an additional 720,572 shares in the last quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Everest Group by 11,756.0% in the fourth quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 278,616 shares of the company’s stock valued at $100,987,000 after purchasing an additional 276,266 shares during the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. grew its stake in Everest Group by 14,518.5% in the fourth quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 190,040 shares of the company’s stock valued at $68,882,000 after purchasing an additional 188,740 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Donald Smith & CO. Inc. bought a new position in Everest Group in the fourth quarter worth about $56,341,000. 92.64% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently commented on EG. Raymond James reiterated a “strong-buy” rating and set a $410.00 price objective (down previously from $420.00) on shares of Everest Group in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on Everest Group from $362.00 to $361.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “equal weight” rating and issued a $340.00 price objective (down previously from $425.00) on shares of Everest Group in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their target price on Everest Group from $434.00 to $402.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, Evercore ISI lowered their price target on Everest Group from $400.00 to $396.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Everest Group currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $397.18.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Geraldine Losquadro sold 1,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $360.63, for a total value of $540,945.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 12,279 shares in the company, valued at $4,428,175.77. This trade represents a 10.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Everest Group Price Performance

Shares of EG opened at $342.06 on Thursday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $351.79 and its 200 day moving average price is $357.42. The company has a market cap of $14.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.89, a PEG ratio of 0.24 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a quick ratio of 0.40, a current ratio of 0.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. Everest Group, Ltd. has a fifty-two week low of $320.00 and a fifty-two week high of $407.30.

Everest Group (NYSE:EG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The company reported $6.45 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $7.46 by ($1.01). Everest Group had a return on equity of 9.04% and a net margin of 7.95%. The company had revenue of $4.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.89 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $16.32 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 3.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Everest Group, Ltd. will post 47.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Everest Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 17th were paid a $2.00 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 17th. This represents a $8.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.34%. Everest Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 41.15%.

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.