Principal Financial Group Inc. Reduces Position in Everest Re Group, Ltd. (NYSE:RE)

Principal Financial Group Inc. decreased its position in shares of Everest Re Group, Ltd. (NYSE:RE – Get Rating) by 3.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 47,411 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 1,665 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Everest Re Group were worth $15,706,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of RE. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in Everest Re Group by 10.9% in the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 47,460 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $14,302,000 after purchasing an additional 4,665 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Everest Re Group by 14.5% during the first quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 1,437 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $433,000 after buying an additional 182 shares during the period. Panagora Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Everest Re Group by 42.2% during the first quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 5,437 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,639,000 after buying an additional 1,614 shares during the last quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS raised its stake in Everest Re Group by 6.6% during the 1st quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 5,268 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,588,000 after acquiring an additional 326 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Aviva PLC lifted its position in Everest Re Group by 46.2% during the 1st quarter. Aviva PLC now owns 18,334 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $5,526,000 after acquiring an additional 5,797 shares during the period. 92.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on Everest Re Group from $455.00 to $468.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 10th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Everest Re Group from $435.00 to $445.00 in a research report on Wednesday, May 3rd. StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Everest Re Group in a report on Thursday, May 18th. They set a “buy” rating for the company. Finally, Raymond James raised their price objective on shares of Everest Re Group from $385.00 to $415.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $410.60.

Everest Re Group Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:RE opened at $365.01 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.28 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 0.33 and a quick ratio of 0.33. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $365.97 and its 200-day simple moving average is $353.76. Everest Re Group, Ltd. has a 12 month low of $244.57 and a 12 month high of $394.99.

Everest Re Group (NYSE:RE – Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 1st. The insurance provider reported $11.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $12.48 by ($1.17). The firm had revenue of $3.33 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.10 billion. Everest Re Group had a return on equity of 12.98% and a net margin of 5.34%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $10.31 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Everest Re Group, Ltd. will post 44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Everest Re Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 16th. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 31st will be paid a $1.65 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 30th. This represents a $6.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.81%. Everest Re Group’s payout ratio is 39.15%.

Everest Re Group Company Profile

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Everest Re Group Ltd. is a holding company, which engages in the provision of reinsurance and insurance services. It operates through the following segments: Reinsurance, and Insurance. The Reinsurance segment writes property and casualty reinsurance and specialty lines of business, including marine, aviation, surety, and accident and health business, on both a treaty and facultative basis, through reinsurance brokers, as well as directly with ceding companies primarily within the U.S.