Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management Purchases New Position in Universal Insurance Holdings Inc $UVE

Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management acquired a new stake in Universal Insurance Holdings Inc (NYSE:UVE) in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 7,419 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $206,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in UVE. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in shares of Universal Insurance by 3,499.2% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 17,348 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $411,000 after buying an additional 16,866 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its position in shares of Universal Insurance by 19.3% in the first quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 17,658 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $418,000 after buying an additional 2,851 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Universal Insurance by 2.7% in the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 25,064 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $594,000 after buying an additional 649 shares in the last quarter. Leavell Investment Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Universal Insurance in the first quarter valued at approximately $251,000. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Universal Insurance by 4.9% in the first quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 11,971 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $284,000 after buying an additional 563 shares in the last quarter. 66.61% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Universal Insurance news, Chairman Sean P. Downes sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.35, for a total transaction of $507,000.00. Following the transaction, the chairman owned 1,303,512 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $33,044,029.20. The trade was a 1.51% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 17.50% of the company’s stock.

Universal Insurance Stock Performance

NYSE UVE opened at $30.05 on Wednesday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $24.94 and its two-hundred day moving average is $24.99. The firm has a market capitalization of $850.90 million, a P/E ratio of 13.12 and a beta of 0.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a current ratio of 0.58. Universal Insurance Holdings Inc has a fifty-two week low of $16.83 and a fifty-two week high of $30.37.

Universal Insurance (NYSE:UVE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 24th. The insurance provider reported $1.23 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.09 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $596.72 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $359.98 million. Universal Insurance had a return on equity of 15.37% and a net margin of 4.24%. On average, research analysts anticipate that Universal Insurance Holdings Inc will post 1.66 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on UVE shares. Wall Street Zen raised Universal Insurance from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 3rd. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Universal Insurance in a research note on Saturday, September 27th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat, Universal Insurance has a consensus rating of “Buy”.

Universal Insurance Profile

Universal Insurance Holdings, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates as an integrated insurance holding company in the United States. It develops, markets, and underwrites insurance products for personal residential insurance, such as homeowners, renters/tenants, condo unit owners, and dwelling/fire; and offers allied lines, coverage for other structures, and personal property, liability, and personal articles coverages.