United Fire Group (NASDAQ:UFCS) Cut to “Hold” at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of United Fire Group (NASDAQ:UFCS) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report published on Saturday,Wall Street Zen reports.

Other analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. Piper Sandler decreased their price target on shares of United Fire Group from $60.00 to $58.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, November 5th. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of United Fire Group from a “buy (a)” rating to a “buy (a-)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 4th. Finally, Zacks Research raised shares of United Fire Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, September 17th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and two have issued a Buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Strong Buy” and a consensus target price of $51.50.

United Fire Group Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ UFCS opened at $48.87 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $1.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.34 and a beta of 0.55. United Fire Group has a twelve month low of $33.53 and a twelve month high of $58.19. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $54.71 and a two-hundred day moving average of $47.04. The company has a current ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 0.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15.

United Fire Group (NASDAQ:UFCS) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, November 3rd. The insurance provider reported $1.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.23 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $391.63 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $384.18 million. United Fire Group had a net margin of 9.06% and a return on equity of 14.50%. On average, research analysts forecast that United Fire Group will post 5.07 earnings per share for the current year.

United Fire Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 18th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 4th were paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.6%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 4th. United Fire Group’s dividend payout ratio is 15.30%.

Insider Buying and Selling at United Fire Group

In related news, Director Scott Carlton sold 9,777 shares of United Fire Group stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.52, for a total value of $542,819.04. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 200,552 shares in the company, valued at $11,134,647.04. This trade represents a 4.65% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director George Milligan acquired 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 6th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $47.41 per share, for a total transaction of $237,050.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 95,034 shares in the company, valued at $4,505,561.94. The trade was a 5.55% increase in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. 6.06% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in United Fire Group during the second quarter worth about $183,136,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in United Fire Group by 0.8% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,489,968 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $55,219,000 after purchasing an additional 12,329 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE purchased a new position in shares of United Fire Group during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $24,936,000. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of United Fire Group by 5.0% during the 1st quarter. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. now owns 211,768 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $7,848,000 after buying an additional 10,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of United Fire Group in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $9,720,000. 62.68% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

United Fire Group Company Profile