The Travelers Companies, Inc. ( TRV ) shares are trading higher in the premarket session on Wednesday.

The company reported fourth-quarter adjusted earnings per share of $9.15, beating the street view of $6.65. Quarterly sales of $12.008 billion (+10%) outpaced the analyst consensus estimate of $10.754 billion.

“We are very pleased to report record core income for the quarter of $2.1 billion driven by strong growth in earned premiums and excellent profitability,” said Alan Schnitzer, chairman and CEO.

Net written premiums jumped 7% to $10.742 billion in the quarter under review. Core income jumped 30% year over year to $2.126 billion.

The company stated that, due to its strong balance sheet and results, they were able to grow adjusted book value per share by 13% to $139.04, after making significant investments and returning over $2.1 billion of excess capital to shareholders through dividends and share repurchases.

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“The improvement in the combined ratio was driven by very strong underlying profitability and higher net favorable prior year reserve development. Earned premiums and underwriting margins were strong in all three segments,” Schnitzer added.

The company repurchased 1.0 million shares during the fourth quarter at an average price of $255.41 per share for a total cost of $252 million. 

The company declared a regular quarterly dividend of $1.05 per share. The dividend is payable March 31, to shareholders of record at the close of business on March 10.

Price Action: TRV shares are trading higher by 5.24% to $251.70 premarket at last check Wednesday.

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