Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. Acquires New Stake in United Fire Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:UFCS)

Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. bought a new position in shares of United Fire Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:UFCS) in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 24,956 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $536,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of UFCS. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. acquired a new position in shares of United Fire Group in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $4,770,000. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in United Fire Group in the second quarter valued at $861,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in United Fire Group by 8.1% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 363,590 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $7,315,000 after acquiring an additional 27,213 shares during the period. Mitchell Sinkler & Starr PA bought a new position in shares of United Fire Group in the 1st quarter worth about $283,000. Finally, UniSuper Management Pty Ltd acquired a new position in shares of United Fire Group in the 1st quarter valued at about $265,000. 62.68% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently commented on UFCS shares. StockNews.com cut United Fire Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, August 12th. Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on shares of United Fire Group from $21.00 to $19.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 8th.

United Fire Group Trading Up 2.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ UFCS opened at $20.50 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $519.47 million, a P/E ratio of -29.71 and a beta of 0.36. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $20.64 and its 200-day moving average price is $21.62. United Fire Group, Inc. has a 1-year low of $18.04 and a 1-year high of $25.55.

United Fire Group (NASDAQ:UFCS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The insurance provider reported ($0.07) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.04) by ($0.03). The firm had revenue of $301.17 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $300.80 million. United Fire Group had a return on equity of 5.23% and a net margin of 3.17%. During the same period last year, the company posted ($2.27) earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that United Fire Group, Inc. will post 1.1 EPS for the current year.

United Fire Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 13th. Investors of record on Friday, August 30th were issued a $0.16 dividend. This represents a $0.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.12%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 30th. United Fire Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently -92.75%.

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.