Meritage Portfolio Management Purchases New Holdings in Cincinnati Financial Co. (NASDAQ:CINF)

Meritage Portfolio Management acquired a new position in shares of Cincinnati Financial Co. (NASDAQ:CINF) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 28,809 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,981,000.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Octavia Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Cincinnati Financial by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Octavia Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 11,258 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,160,000 after acquiring an additional 101 shares during the last quarter. Pinion Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in Cincinnati Financial by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. Pinion Investment Advisors LLC now owns 3,613 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $374,000 after buying an additional 101 shares during the period. Belpointe Asset Management LLC grew its stake in Cincinnati Financial by 3.0% in the third quarter. Belpointe Asset Management LLC now owns 3,568 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $365,000 after acquiring an additional 103 shares during the period. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its holdings in shares of Cincinnati Financial by 11.6% during the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 1,004 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $104,000 after purchasing an additional 104 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Allworth Financial LP grew its position in shares of Cincinnati Financial by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 5,316 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $544,000 after purchasing an additional 105 shares during the period. 65.24% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have weighed in on CINF. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Cincinnati Financial from $120.00 to $126.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on Cincinnati Financial from $136.00 to $143.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Piper Sandler restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $116.00 price target on shares of Cincinnati Financial in a report on Monday, April 1st. TheStreet raised Cincinnati Financial from a “c+” rating to a “b” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 6th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised shares of Cincinnati Financial from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $125.00 to $135.00 in a research note on Monday, March 25th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Cincinnati Financial has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $123.57.

Cincinnati Financial Stock Performance

Cincinnati Financial stock traded down $1.48 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $118.44. 700,242 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 859,621. Cincinnati Financial Co. has a fifty-two week low of $95.01 and a fifty-two week high of $124.35. The stock has a market cap of $18.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.28, a P/E/G ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 0.63. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $117.61 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $108.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 0.27 and a quick ratio of 0.27.

Cincinnati Financial (NASDAQ:CINF) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The insurance provider reported $1.72 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.69 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $2.94 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.13 billion. Cincinnati Financial had a return on equity of 8.56% and a net margin of 18.41%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 31.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.89 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Cincinnati Financial Co. will post 6.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cincinnati Financial Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 19th were issued a dividend of $0.81 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 18th. This is a boost from Cincinnati Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.74%. Cincinnati Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 27.76%.

About Cincinnati Financial

Cincinnati Financial Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, provides property casualty insurance products in the United States. It operates through five segments: Commercial Lines Insurance, Personal Lines Insurance, Excess and Surplus Lines Insurance, Life Insurance, and Investments. The Commercial Lines Insurance segment offers coverage for commercial casualty, commercial property, commercial auto, and workers' compensation.