Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Purchases New Holdings in United Fire Group, Inc $UFCS

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System acquired a new position in United Fire Group, Inc (NASDAQ:UFCS) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 9,700 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $359,000.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in United Fire Group by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,511,541 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $54,945,000 after purchasing an additional 35,338 shares during the period. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. bought a new stake in United Fire Group during the 4th quarter worth about $1,524,000. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC lifted its position in United Fire Group by 111.0% during the 4th quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 57,647 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,095,000 after purchasing an additional 30,328 shares during the period. Legato Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in United Fire Group during the 4th quarter valued at about $487,000. Finally, Intech Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of United Fire Group by 320.9% in the 4th quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 50,925 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,851,000 after purchasing an additional 38,825 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.68% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently weighed in on UFCS. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of United Fire Group in a research note on Wednesday, May 13th. JonesTrading raised their price objective on shares of United Fire Group from $40.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of United Fire Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 9th. Piper Sandler increased their price target on United Fire Group from $45.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, Zacks Research lowered United Fire Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, United Fire Group currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $51.00.

United Fire Group Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:UFCS opened at $52.11 on Thursday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $47.68 and its 200 day simple moving average is $40.98. United Fire Group, Inc has a fifty-two week low of $25.79 and a fifty-two week high of $54.42. The company has a market capitalization of $1.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.51 and a beta of 0.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 0.34 and a quick ratio of 0.34.

United Fire Group (NASDAQ:UFCS) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The insurance provider reported $1.16 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.87 by $0.29. The company had revenue of $369.44 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $340.15 million. United Fire Group had a net margin of 9.16% and a return on equity of 14.65%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that United Fire Group, Inc will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current year.

United Fire Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 19th. Investors of record on Friday, June 5th were given a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 5th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.5%. United Fire Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 16.13%.

United Fire Group announced that its board has approved a share buyback program on Wednesday, May 20th that allows the company to buyback 2,000,000 outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the insurance provider to reacquire shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other United Fire Group news, Director George D. Milligan acquired 4,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 5th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $45.23 per share, with a total value of $203,535.00. Following the purchase, the director owned 90,034 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,072,237.82. This represents a 5.26% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders own 6.06% of the company’s stock.

About United Fire Group

United Fire Group, Inc (NASDAQ: UFCS) is an insurance holding company based in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, that specializes in property and casualty coverage for commercial and personal lines. The company underwrites business through three primary segments: commercial, personal and specialty insurance. Within the commercial segment, United Fire Group offers tailored policies for small- and medium-sized enterprises, including general liability, commercial property and workers’ compensation. Its personal lines cover homeowners, auto, farm and umbrella policies.

United Fire Group distributes its products primarily through a national network of independent insurance agents and brokers.