Morgan Stanley Cuts Everest Group (NYSE:EG) Price Target to $450.00

Everest Group (NYSE:EG) had its price objective lowered by Morgan Stanley from $466.00 to $450.00 in a report published on Monday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an overweight rating on the stock.

A number of other brokerages have also recently issued reports on EG. Citigroup cut shares of Everest Group from a buy rating to a neutral rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $452.00 to $375.00 in a research note on Monday, February 12th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on Everest Group from $402.00 to $397.00 and set an equal weight rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 11th. TD Cowen started coverage on Everest Group in a research note on Wednesday, January 10th. They issued a market perform rating and a $421.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on Everest Group from $445.00 to $457.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Everest Group currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $432.11.

Everest Group Stock Performance

NYSE:EG opened at $357.20 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $19.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.98, a PEG ratio of 3.17 and a beta of 0.56. Everest Group has a fifty-two week low of $331.08 and a fifty-two week high of $417.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a current ratio of 0.37. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $375.51 and a 200-day moving average price of $380.33.

Everest Group (NYSE:EG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 7th. The company reported $25.18 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $14.63 by $10.55. Everest Group had a net margin of 17.26% and a return on equity of 25.05%. The business had revenue of $3.66 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.85 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $12.21 earnings per share. Everest Group’s revenue was up 12.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Everest Group will post 61.21 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Everest Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 19th were paid a dividend of $1.75 per share. This represents a $7.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.96%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 18th. Everest Group’s payout ratio is 11.72%.

Insider Activity

In other Everest Group news, Director Roger M. Singer bought 500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 12th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $357.21 per share, for a total transaction of $178,605.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 16,920 shares in the company, valued at $6,043,993.20. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In related news, Director Roger M. Singer acquired 500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 12th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $357.21 per share, for a total transaction of $178,605.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 16,920 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,043,993.20. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, COO James Allan Williamson bought 700 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 9th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $352.50 per share, with a total value of $246,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 11,749 shares in the company, valued at $4,141,522.50. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders bought 2,485 shares of company stock valued at $874,786 over the last quarter. 1.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Everest Group

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in EG. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. acquired a new position in shares of Everest Group in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,866,000. Red Door Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Everest Group in the fourth quarter valued at $237,000. Uncommon Cents Investing LLC bought a new stake in Everest Group during the fourth quarter valued at $1,016,000. Traynor Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Everest Group during the 4th quarter worth about $466,000. Finally, Global Retirement Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Everest Group in the 4th quarter worth about $102,000. 92.64% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Everest Group Company Profile

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.