Middleton & Co. Inc. MA Reduces Stock Position in Chubb Limited (NYSE:CB)

Middleton & Co. Inc. MA cut its stake in Chubb Limited (NYSE:CB) by 6.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 18,251 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 1,278 shares during the period. Middleton & Co. Inc. MA’s holdings in Chubb were worth $5,043,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. FMR LLC increased its holdings in Chubb by 7.3% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 15,576,485 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,492,103,000 after buying an additional 1,052,999 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC increased its stake in shares of Chubb by 28.1% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,772,688 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $511,226,000 after purchasing an additional 388,746 shares in the last quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec increased its stake in shares of Chubb by 49.7% during the 3rd quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 1,172,267 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $338,070,000 after purchasing an additional 389,343 shares in the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Chubb by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 925,622 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $266,940,000 after purchasing an additional 7,462 shares in the last quarter. Finally, National Pension Service increased its stake in shares of Chubb by 14.1% during the 3rd quarter. National Pension Service now owns 813,125 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $234,497,000 after purchasing an additional 100,470 shares in the last quarter. 83.81% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CB has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Chubb from $349.00 to $324.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 6th. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and set a $325.00 target price on shares of Chubb in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $320.00 target price on shares of Chubb in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on shares of Chubb from $328.00 to $329.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Chubb from $296.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $295.73.

Chubb Stock Performance

Chubb stock opened at $285.34 on Friday. Chubb Limited has a 12-month low of $238.85 and a 12-month high of $302.05. The company has a market capitalization of $115.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.36 and a beta of 0.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 0.25 and a quick ratio of 0.28. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $271.02 and its 200 day moving average price is $279.73.

Chubb (NYSE:CB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 28th. The financial services provider reported $6.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.33 by $0.69. Chubb had a net margin of 16.63% and a return on equity of 13.75%. On average, research analysts forecast that Chubb Limited will post 21.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Chubb Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 4th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a $0.91 dividend. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.28%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. Chubb’s payout ratio is currently 16.02%.

Chubb Profile

Chubb Limited provides insurance and reinsurance products worldwide. The company's North America Commercial P&C Insurance segment offers commercial property, casualty, workers' compensation, package policies, risk management, financial lines, marine, construction, environmental, medical risk, cyber risk, surety, and casualty; and group accident and health insurance to large, middle market, and small commercial businesses.