AMERISAFE, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMSF) Increases Dividend to $3.37 Per Share

AMERISAFE, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMSF) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, October 23rd, Zacks reports. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be paid a dividend of 3.37 per share by the insurance provider on Friday, December 13th. This represents a $13.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 24.00%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 6th. This is a positive change from AMERISAFE’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.37.

AMERISAFE has raised its dividend by an average of 8.0% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 11 years. AMERISAFE has a payout ratio of 64.3% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect AMERISAFE to earn $2.10 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.48 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 70.5%.

AMERISAFE Price Performance

AMERISAFE stock opened at $56.17 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $1.07 billion, a PE ratio of 17.50 and a beta of 0.34. AMERISAFE has a 12 month low of $41.97 and a 12 month high of $56.43. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $49.19 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $47.05.

AMERISAFE (NASDAQ:AMSF) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The insurance provider reported $0.58 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.56 by $0.02. AMERISAFE had a net margin of 18.46% and a return on equity of 16.38%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.61 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that AMERISAFE will post 2.4 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on AMSF. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and set a $65.00 price target on shares of AMERISAFE in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. StockNews.com upgraded AMERISAFE from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 8th.

About AMERISAFE

AMERISAFE, Inc, an insurance holding company, underwrites workers’ compensation insurance in the United States. The company provides benefits to injured employees for temporary or permanent disability, death, and medical and hospital expenses. It sells its products through retail and wholesale brokers and agents; and small and mid-sized employers engaged in hazardous industries, including construction, trucking, logging and lumber, agriculture, manufacturing, telecommunications, and maritime.