BlackRock Inc. raised its position in shares of Validus Holdings, Ltd. (NYSE:VR) by 2,898.5% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,235,863 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 3,127,947 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. owned 4.09% of Validus Holdings worth $182,471,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of VR. Martingale Asset Management L P increased its position in Validus Holdings by 9.8% in the first quarter. Martingale Asset Management L P now owns 455,096 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $25,664,000 after buying an additional 40,595 shares during the period. Guggenheim Capital LLC increased its position in Validus Holdings by 73.0% in the fourth quarter. Guggenheim Capital LLC now owns 62,972 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $3,464,000 after buying an additional 26,570 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its position in Validus Holdings by 2.9% in the first quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 153,444 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $8,653,000 after buying an additional 4,272 shares during the period. Edge Asset Management Inc. increased its position in Validus Holdings by 1.7% in the first quarter. Edge Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,016,753 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $57,336,000 after buying an additional 16,726 shares during the period. Finally, Breton Hill Capital Ltd. increased its position in Validus Holdings by 285.6% in the first quarter. Breton Hill Capital Ltd. now owns 18,513 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,044,000 after buying an additional 13,712 shares during the period. 97.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
Validus Holdings, Ltd. (VR) opened at 52.51 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $4.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.92 and a beta of 0.64. Validus Holdings, Ltd. has a 12 month low of $47.91 and a 12 month high of $58.76. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $52.32 and a 200-day moving average of $55.13.
Validus Holdings (NYSE:VR) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 26th. The insurance provider reported $0.95 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the Zacks’ consensus estimate of $1.17 by $0.22. Validus Holdings had a return on equity of 7.05% and a net margin of 11.88%. The firm had revenue of $990.80 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.03 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.39 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 1.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Validus Holdings, Ltd. will post $3.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.
The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 30th. Investors of record on Thursday, June 15th were paid a dividend of $0.38 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, June 13th. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.89%. Validus Holdings’s payout ratio is 43.18%.
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VR has been the topic of a number of research reports. Deutsche Bank AG raised their target price on shares of Validus Holdings from $56.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, April 28th. ValuEngine raised shares of Validus Holdings from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, June 3rd. Zacks Investment Research raised shares of Validus Holdings from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $62.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued a “hold” rating and set a $55.00 target price on shares of Validus Holdings in a research report on Thursday, April 27th. Finally, BidaskClub raised shares of Validus Holdings from a “strong sell” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. The company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $57.00.
In related news, Director Matthew J. Grayson sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.09, for a total transaction of $530,900.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 51,393 shares in the company, valued at $2,728,454.37. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Matthew J. Grayson sold 30,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $52.67, for a total transaction of $1,580,100.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 61,393 shares in the company, valued at $3,233,569.31. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 73,151 shares of company stock worth $3,871,632 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 2.33% of the company’s stock.
About Validus Holdings
Validus Holdings, Ltd. is a holding company. The Company operates through four segments: Validus Re, Talbot, Western World and AlphaCat. Validus Re is a Bermuda-based reinsurance segment focused treaty reinsurance. Validus Re concentrates on first-party property and other reinsurance risks. Talbot is a specialty insurance segment operating within the Lloyd’s insurance market through Syndicate 1183.
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