Safety Insurance Group (NASDAQ:SAFT) Raised to “Buy” at Wall Street Zen

Safety Insurance Group (NASDAQ:SAFT) was upgraded by research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a note issued to investors on Saturday.

Separately, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Safety Insurance Group in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Hold rating, According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold”.

Safety Insurance Group Stock Performance

Shares of SAFT opened at $77.63 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.16 billion, a PE ratio of 11.59 and a beta of 0.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a current ratio of 0.40 and a quick ratio of 0.41. Safety Insurance Group has a one year low of $67.04 and a one year high of $84.20. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $77.72 and its 200 day moving average price is $74.82.

Safety Insurance Group (NASDAQ:SAFT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The insurance provider reported $1.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.28 by $0.23. The company had revenue of $319.34 million for the quarter. Safety Insurance Group had a return on equity of 9.64% and a net margin of 7.85%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Safety Insurance Group news, major shareholder Corp Srb sold 11,487 shares of Safety Insurance Group stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $78.36, for a total transaction of $900,121.32. Following the sale, the insider owned 1,821,510 shares in the company, valued at $142,733,523.60. The trade was a 0.63% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders have sold a total of 20,954 shares of company stock worth $1,634,265 in the last 90 days. 2.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Safety Insurance Group

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in SAFT. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC boosted its holdings in Safety Insurance Group by 159.3% during the third quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 27,612 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,952,000 after purchasing an additional 16,964 shares in the last quarter. Creative Planning lifted its position in shares of Safety Insurance Group by 289.2% during the 2nd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 17,956 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,426,000 after buying an additional 13,342 shares during the period. CWM LLC boosted its stake in Safety Insurance Group by 65.8% in the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 19,822 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,401,000 after buying an additional 7,865 shares in the last quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas grew its position in Safety Insurance Group by 50.3% in the third quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 70,705 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $4,998,000 after acquiring an additional 23,671 shares during the period. Finally, AMG National Trust Bank bought a new stake in Safety Insurance Group in the second quarter valued at $1,464,000. 81.04% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Safety Insurance Group

Safety Insurance Group, Inc is a publicly traded property and casualty insurance holding company incorporated in Massachusetts in 1994. Its principal subsidiary, Safety Insurance Company, traces its roots back to 1923 and has since evolved into a regional personal lines insurer. The company is headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, and trades on the Nasdaq under the symbol SAFT.

Safety Insurance Group focuses primarily on private passenger automobile and homeowners insurance products, along with dwelling fire, umbrella liability, and certain commercial auto coverages.