Safety Insurance Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:SAFT) Short Interest Update

Safety Insurance Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:SAFT) saw a significant decline in short interest in February. As of February 15th, there was short interest totalling 79,900 shares, a decline of 39.5% from the January 31st total of 132,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 55,800 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 1.4 days. Currently, 0.6% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Institutional Trading of Safety Insurance Group

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of SAFT. TimesSquare Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Safety Insurance Group by 17.5% in the 4th quarter. TimesSquare Capital Management LLC now owns 602,449 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $49,642,000 after acquiring an additional 89,561 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in Safety Insurance Group by 46.4% in the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 219,960 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $18,125,000 after purchasing an additional 69,750 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Safety Insurance Group in the fourth quarter worth $4,023,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in Safety Insurance Group by 21.4% during the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 212,354 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $17,498,000 after buying an additional 37,495 shares during the period. Finally, Barclays PLC grew its stake in shares of Safety Insurance Group by 348.8% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 24,430 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,997,000 after buying an additional 18,987 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.04% of the company’s stock.

Safety Insurance Group Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of Safety Insurance Group stock traded up $0.33 on Monday, hitting $76.47. 63,646 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 47,596. Safety Insurance Group has a 12-month low of $73.38 and a 12-month high of $90.00. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $79.12 and its 200 day simple moving average is $81.78. The company has a market cap of $1.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.14 and a beta of 0.20.

Safety Insurance Group (NASDAQ:SAFT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The insurance provider reported $0.94 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.17 by ($0.23). Safety Insurance Group had a net margin of 6.86% and a return on equity of 6.35%. The firm had revenue of $286.72 million for the quarter.

Safety Insurance Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd will be given a $0.90 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $3.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.71%. Safety Insurance Group’s payout ratio is 75.47%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, StockNews.com lowered shares of Safety Insurance Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday.

About Safety Insurance Group

Safety Insurance Group, Inc provides private passenger and commercial automobile, and homeowner insurance in the United States. The company’s private passenger automobile policies offer coverage for bodily injury and property damage to others, no-fault personal injury coverage for the insured/insured’s car occupants, and physical damage coverage for an insured’s own vehicle for collision or other perils.