Chubb Limited (NYSE:CB) Short Interest Up 11.4% in December

Chubb Limited (NYSE:CB) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest in the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 3,130,000 shares, an increase of 11.4% from the December 15th total of 2,810,000 shares. Currently, 0.8% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 1,540,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.0 days.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently commented on CB. JMP Securities boosted their target price on shares of Chubb from $300.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Chubb from $295.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Barclays reduced their price objective on Chubb from $349.00 to $324.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Chubb from $294.00 to $296.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their price target on Chubb from $289.00 to $293.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $288.17.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Chubb

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in CB. FMR LLC lifted its position in shares of Chubb by 7.3% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 15,576,485 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,492,103,000 after buying an additional 1,052,999 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Chubb by 28,885.3% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 935,067 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,696,640,000 after acquiring an additional 931,841 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its holdings in Chubb by 4,559.3% in the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 844,832 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $243,641,000 after purchasing an additional 826,700 shares during the last quarter. Troy Asset Management Ltd acquired a new position in Chubb during the second quarter valued at approximately $106,975,000. Finally, Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec raised its position in shares of Chubb by 49.7% in the third quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 1,172,267 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $338,070,000 after purchasing an additional 389,343 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 83.81% of the company’s stock.

Chubb Stock Down 1.5 %

Chubb stock traded down $4.15 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $269.38. The company had a trading volume of 1,901,890 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,385,455. Chubb has a fifty-two week low of $226.74 and a fifty-two week high of $302.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 0.28 and a quick ratio of 0.28. The firm has a market capitalization of $108.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.65 and a beta of 0.67. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $277.89 and its 200-day moving average is $278.16.

Chubb (NYSE:CB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The financial services provider reported $5.72 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.98 by $0.74. The business had revenue of $13.83 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.16 billion. Chubb had a net margin of 18.32% and a return on equity of 15.46%. Chubb’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $4.95 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Chubb will post 21.93 earnings per share for the current year.

Chubb Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th were paid a dividend of $0.91 per share. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.35%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 13th. Chubb’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 14.91%.

About Chubb

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.