R Squared Ltd Buys Shares of 7,844 United Fire Group, Inc $UFCS

R Squared Ltd bought a new stake in shares of United Fire Group, Inc (NASDAQ:UFCS) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 7,844 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $225,000.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in United Fire Group by 270.2% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,329 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 970 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC bought a new stake in shares of United Fire Group in the first quarter valued at about $559,000. Teacher Retirement System of Texas grew its stake in United Fire Group by 7.9% in the first quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 56,919 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,677,000 after purchasing an additional 4,148 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in United Fire Group by 2.7% in the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 105,987 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $3,122,000 after purchasing an additional 2,777 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CWM LLC grew its stake in shares of United Fire Group by 192.8% during the first quarter. CWM LLC now owns 5,236 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $154,000 after acquiring an additional 3,448 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.68% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

UFCS has been the subject of a number of research reports. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of United Fire Group in a report on Friday. Jones Trading upped their target price on United Fire Group from $32.00 to $33.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 11th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded United Fire Group to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has given a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $30.50.

Insider Buying and Selling at United Fire Group

In related news, Director John Paul E. Besong sold 2,450 shares of United Fire Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.26, for a total value of $79,037.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 24,494 shares in the company, valued at $790,176.44. The trade was a 9.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 6.12% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

United Fire Group Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ UFCS opened at $31.33 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $798.60 million, a PE ratio of 8.93 and a beta of 0.49. United Fire Group, Inc has a fifty-two week low of $19.33 and a fifty-two week high of $32.58. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $30.98 and its 200-day simple moving average is $29.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a current ratio of 0.37.

United Fire Group (NASDAQ:UFCS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The insurance provider reported $0.90 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.57 by $0.33. United Fire Group had a return on equity of 11.84% and a net margin of 6.94%.The company had revenue of $314.80 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $337.99 million. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that United Fire Group, Inc will post 2.42 EPS for the current fiscal year.

United Fire Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 12th. Investors of record on Friday, August 29th were paid a $0.16 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 29th. This represents a $0.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.0%. United Fire Group’s payout ratio is 18.23%.

United Fire Group Profile

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.