Lakewood Capital Management LP Acquires Shares of 343,090 Kemper Corporation $KMPR

Lakewood Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of Kemper Corporation (NYSE:KMPR) in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 343,090 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $9,250,000.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in Kemper during the 2nd quarter valued at about $227,331,000. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Kemper by 40.1% in the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,780,270 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $143,323,000 after buying an additional 795,131 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in shares of Kemper by 12.9% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,776,543 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $143,131,000 after buying an additional 316,216 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of Kemper by 6.0% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,472,276 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $100,227,000 after buying an additional 140,539 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of Kemper by 0.5% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,212,025 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $142,764,000 after buying an additional 10,213 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.23% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of Kemper from $44.00 to $43.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 10th. Weiss Ratings cut Kemper from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “sell (d)” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 6th. Piper Sandler cut their target price on Kemper from $35.00 to $28.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Zacks Research raised Kemper from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 18th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Kemper from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $43.67.

Kemper Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE KMPR opened at $27.69 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $27.77 and its 200-day moving average price is $29.49. Kemper Corporation has a 52-week low of $22.69 and a 52-week high of $54.64. The company has a market cap of $1.63 billion, a PE ratio of -3.30 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a quick ratio of 0.17, a current ratio of 0.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43.

Kemper (NYSE:KMPR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 5th. The insurance provider reported $0.45 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.34 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $1.09 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.16 billion. Kemper had a negative net margin of 10.84% and a positive return on equity of 2.89%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.30 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Kemper Corporation will post 1.97 EPS for the current year.

Kemper Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 4th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 21st will be given a $0.32 dividend. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 21st. Kemper’s payout ratio is -15.24%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Kemper

In other news, Director Gerald Laderman purchased 4,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 11th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $26.49 per share, for a total transaction of $105,960.00. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 33,365 shares in the company, valued at approximately $883,838.85. This represents a 13.62% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Jason N. Gorevic acquired 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 10th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $25.91 per share, with a total value of $129,550.00. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 31,802 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $823,989.82. This trade represents a 18.66% increase in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last 90 days, insiders bought 14,000 shares of company stock worth $367,880. 0.61% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Kemper Profile

Kemper Corporation (NYSE:KMPR) is a diversified insurance holding company headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. Formed through the rebranding of Unitrin in 2010, Kemper has established a nationwide presence by offering a broad array of property and casualty insurance products. The company distributes its products through independent agents, brokers and direct-to-consumer channels, serving both individual policyholders and commercial clients.

The personal insurance segment provides coverage for automobiles, homeowners, renters and umbrella lines, while the commercial business focuses on liability, workers’ compensation and specialty property solutions tailored to small and mid-sized enterprises.