** Shares of Travelers Cos TRV.N are nearly flat Tues afternoon, with the insurer due to report a drop in Q1 EPS when it posts results before the bell on Wed

** On February 11, Travelers said it sees $1.7 bln of pre-tax catastrophe losses from the California wildfires in January, an event which some analysts said was among the costliest natural disasters for insurers

** Analysts expect the co to report an increase in quarterly rev to $10.83 bln from $10.18 bln in the yr-ago qtr, while it is expected to post adj earnings of 81c/shr vs $4.69 a yr ago, according to LSEG

** In mid-January, analysts were expecting EPS for Q1 of $5.77, LSEG data shows

** The co has beaten analysts' earnings expectations in four of the past eight reporting periods, per LSEG

** Last week, at least three brokerages including Barclays cut their price targets on TRV while at least three including Wells Fargo raised them

** The median 12-mo price target for TRV is $276; the stock was last at $250.77​​​

** Analyst recommendations on the stock include nine "strong buy" or "buy" ratings, 15 "hold" ratings and two "sell" ratings

** The stock is outperforming the broader market YTD, up 4% for compared with a roughly 4.6% decline in the Dow Jones industrial average .DJI since the start of 2025

(Reporting by Caroline Valetkevitch)

((caroline.valetkevitch@thomsonreuters.com))