Employers Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EIG) Short Interest Down 21.2% in February

Employers Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EIG) saw a large decrease in short interest in February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 285,900 shares, a decrease of 21.2% from the February 13th total of 363,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 139,500 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.0 days. Approximately 1.2% of the company’s stock are short sold.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, StockNews.com downgraded Employers from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Employers

In other news, Director James R. Kroner sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.90, for a total value of $101,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 25,458 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,295,812.20. The trade was a 7.28 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Ann Marie Smith sold 1,385 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.24, for a total value of $70,967.40. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 8,801 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $450,963.24. This trade represents a 13.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 5,385 shares of company stock valued at $276,267 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 1.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Employers

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Employers by 0.6% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 579,404 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $27,800,000 after purchasing an additional 3,349 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Employers by 9.5% during the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 565,154 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $28,953,000 after purchasing an additional 48,844 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Employers by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 506,140 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $25,930,000 after purchasing an additional 3,364 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Employers by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 423,263 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $21,684,000 after purchasing an additional 4,479 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Boston Partners lifted its holdings in shares of Employers by 3.8% during the fourth quarter. Boston Partners now owns 280,489 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $14,248,000 after purchasing an additional 10,158 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.49% of the company’s stock.

Employers Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:EIG traded up $0.40 on Monday, hitting $50.54. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 196,998 shares, compared to its average volume of 118,107. Employers has a 12 month low of $38.67 and a 12 month high of $54.44. The company has a market capitalization of $1.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.73 and a beta of 0.21. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $49.44 and its two-hundred day moving average is $49.83.

Employers (NYSE:EIG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The financial services provider reported $1.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.08 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $216.60 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $221.18 million. Employers had a return on equity of 8.99% and a net margin of 13.47%. Equities analysts expect that Employers will post 3.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Employers Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 19th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 5th will be issued a $0.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 5th. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.37%. Employers’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 25.48%.

About Employers

Employers Holdings, Inc, through its subsidiaries, operates in the commercial property and casualty insurance industry primarily in the United States. The company operates in two segments, Employers and Cerity. It offers workers’ compensation insurance to small businesses in low to medium hazard industries under the Employers and Cerity brands.