The Travelers Companies Reports a Mostly Positive First Quarter

On Tuesday

reported its first quarter results. The Dow component and insurance provider earned $2.95, beating the consensus estimate which called for an earnings per share of $2.15. Revenue of $5.87 billion fell short of the consensus estimate by $40 million. In the quarter, Travelers' operating income rose to $1.052 billion from $887 million in the same quarter last year, which resulted in an operating return on equity of 17.8 percent - the company's highest quarterly level since 2009. Net investment income increased seven percent, benefiting from strong returns in the company's non-fixed income portfolio. In the quarter, Travelers announced it had returned $882 million in capital to shareholders, which included $705 million in share repurchases. The company also announced it will increase its quarterly dividend by 10 percent to $0.55, marking the tenth consecutive year of doing so. Shares of Travelers are currently trading slightly higher by 0.19 percent Tuesday afternoon.