** Shares of Travelers Companies TRV.N are up 0.8% in afternoon trading Wed, with the insurance company due to report an increase in rev and EPS when it reports qtrly results before the bell on Thurs

** The co is expected to report Q2 rev of $11.758 bln vs $11.12 bln a yr ago, and adj earnings of $3.66/shr vs $2.51 a yr ago, according to LSEG

** TRV options imply a 4.4% swing for the shares, in either direction, by Fri; that is slightly lower than the stock's average reaction to earnings of 4.7%, over the last eight quarters, according to Trade Alert

** The co has beaten analysts' earnings expectations in five of the past eight reporting periods

** Analyst recommendations include eight "strong buy" or "buy" ratings, 14 "hold" ratings and two "sell" ratings

** The median 12-mo price target for the stock was $288; the stock was last at $252.69

** TRV is up 4.7% YTD compared with a roughly 3.7% gain in the Dow Jones industrial average .DJI in that period

(Reporting by Caroline Valetkevitch; additional reporting by Saqib Iqbal Ahmed)

((caroline.valetkevitch@thomsonreuters.com))