United Fire Group (NASDAQ:UFCS) Announces Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Estimates By $0.64 EPS

United Fire Group (NASDAQ:UFCS) released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday. The insurance provider reported $1.25 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.61 by $0.64, Zacks reports. United Fire Group had a net margin of 4.15% and a return on equity of 6.75%.

United Fire Group Stock Up 2.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ UFCS opened at $25.62 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $649.21 million, a P/E ratio of 13.21 and a beta of 0.53. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $27.53 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $23.91. United Fire Group has a twelve month low of $18.04 and a twelve month high of $31.70.

United Fire Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Investors of record on Friday, November 29th were given a dividend of $0.16 per share. This represents a $0.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.50%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 29th. United Fire Group’s payout ratio is 32.99%.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Corey Lynn Ruehle sold 2,664 shares of United Fire Group stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.60, for a total transaction of $78,854.40. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 12,523 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $370,680.80. The trade was a 17.54 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 5.99% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

UFCS has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. StockNews.com raised United Fire Group from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Piper Sandler raised shares of United Fire Group from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $19.00 to $26.00 in a research note on Monday, November 18th.

About United Fire Group

United Fire Group, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides property and casualty insurance for individuals and businesses in the United States. The company offers commercial and personal lines of property and casualty insurance; and reinsurance coverage for property and casualty insurance. Its commercial lines include fire and allied lines, other liability, automobile, workers’ compensation, fidelity and surety coverage, and other insurance products; and personal lines comprise automobile, and fire and allied lines coverage, including homeowners, as well as provides assumed reinsurance products.