Short Interest in Everest Group, Ltd. (NYSE:EG) Drops By 6.6%

Everest Group, Ltd. (NYSE:EG) was the recipient of a significant drop in short interest in October. As of October 15th, there was short interest totalling 980,600 shares, a drop of 6.6% from the September 30th total of 1,050,000 shares. Approximately 3.0% of the company’s shares are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 376,300 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.6 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on EG shares. Barclays cut their price target on shares of Everest Group from $527.00 to $517.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. BMO Capital Markets reiterated a “market perform” rating and set a $403.00 price objective on shares of Everest Group in a research report on Friday, August 30th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Everest Group from $393.00 to $406.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on Everest Group from $450.00 to $445.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on Everest Group from $440.00 to $457.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $438.36.

Everest Group Stock Down 1.3 %

Shares of NYSE:EG opened at $350.97 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $15.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 5.49, a PEG ratio of 2.67 and a beta of 0.61. Everest Group has a 52-week low of $343.76 and a 52-week high of $417.92. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $386.85 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $380.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a quick ratio of 0.38 and a current ratio of 0.38.

Everest Group (NYSE:EG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The company reported $16.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $16.97 by ($0.12). The business had revenue of $4.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.32 billion. Everest Group had a net margin of 16.99% and a return on equity of 23.13%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $15.21 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Everest Group will post 60.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Everest Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 27th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th were given a dividend of $2.00 per share. This represents a $8.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.28%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. Everest Group’s payout ratio is presently 12.52%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Everest Group

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in EG. Boston Partners lifted its holdings in shares of Everest Group by 29.1% in the first quarter. Boston Partners now owns 1,197,457 shares of the company’s stock valued at $475,750,000 after purchasing an additional 269,665 shares in the last quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Everest Group by 30.2% in the second quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 580,171 shares of the company’s stock valued at $221,057,000 after purchasing an additional 134,517 shares during the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. lifted its position in shares of Everest Group by 39.7% during the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 409,989 shares of the company’s stock valued at $160,646,000 after purchasing an additional 116,559 shares in the last quarter. Arnhold LLC purchased a new position in Everest Group during the first quarter worth about $19,896,000. Finally, Champlain Investment Partners LLC grew its position in Everest Group by 5.3% in the 1st quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC now owns 906,100 shares of the company’s stock worth $360,175,000 after purchasing an additional 45,705 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.