United Fire Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:UFCS) Plans $0.16 Quarterly Dividend

United Fire Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:UFCS) announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, November 19th,Wall Street Journal reports. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 29th will be given a dividend of 0.16 per share by the insurance provider on Friday, December 13th. This represents a $0.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.33%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 29th.

United Fire Group has decreased its dividend by an average of 17.5% annually over the last three years. United Fire Group has a payout ratio of 34.6% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect United Fire Group to earn $1.50 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.64 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 42.7%.

United Fire Group Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of UFCS traded up $0.04 on Tuesday, reaching $27.47. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 105,207 shares, compared to its average volume of 106,380. United Fire Group has a twelve month low of $18.04 and a twelve month high of $27.68. The stock has a market capitalization of $696.09 million, a PE ratio of 13.95 and a beta of 0.37. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $20.98 and a 200-day moving average of $21.24.

United Fire Group (NASDAQ:UFCS) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The insurance provider reported $0.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.21 by $0.60. The company had revenue of $322.96 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $306.80 million. United Fire Group had a net margin of 4.15% and a return on equity of 6.75%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.31 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that United Fire Group will post 1.1 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Piper Sandler raised shares of United Fire Group from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their target price for the company from $19.00 to $26.00 in a research report on Monday. StockNews.com raised shares of United Fire Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 4th.

United Fire Group Company 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.