Donald Smith & CO. Inc. Acquires New Holdings in Universal Insurance Holdings Inc $UVE

Donald Smith & CO. Inc. bought a new position in Universal Insurance Holdings Inc (NYSE:UVE) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 721,686 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $29,849,000. Donald Smith & CO. Inc. owned about 2.59% of Universal Insurance as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in shares of Universal Insurance in the second quarter valued at approximately $111,007,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Universal Insurance by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,007,725 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $67,861,000 after buying an additional 54,004 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Universal Insurance by 19.8% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 815,484 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $27,566,000 after buying an additional 134,805 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its stake in Universal Insurance by 9.4% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 805,199 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $19,083,000 after buying an additional 69,289 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC raised its holdings in Universal Insurance by 212.3% in the 3rd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 596,370 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $15,685,000 after acquiring an additional 405,403 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 66.61% of the company’s stock.

Universal Insurance Price Performance

Shares of Universal Insurance stock opened at $42.21 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 0.57 and a quick ratio of 0.57. The company has a market cap of $1.17 billion, a PE ratio of 5.57 and a beta of 0.72. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $41.44 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $37.49. Universal Insurance Holdings Inc has a fifty-two week low of $24.03 and a fifty-two week high of $45.15.

Universal Insurance (NYSE:UVE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 23rd. The insurance provider reported $1.84 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.57 by $0.27. Universal Insurance had a net margin of 13.49% and a return on equity of 37.67%. The business had revenue of $419.38 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $614.62 million. Analysts expect that Universal Insurance Holdings Inc will post 4.85 EPS for the current year.

Universal Insurance Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 7th. Investors of record on Friday, July 31st were paid a dividend of $0.16 per share. This represents a $0.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.5%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, July 31st. Universal Insurance’s payout ratio is currently 8.44%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have weighed in on UVE. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on shares of Universal Insurance from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, July 27th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Universal Insurance from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (a-)” rating in a research note on Monday. Zacks Research lowered Universal Insurance from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 23rd. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut Universal Insurance from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, August 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Universal Insurance has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $45.00.

Insider Transactions at Universal Insurance

In other Universal Insurance news, Chairman Sean P. Downes sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.27, for a total value of $885,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman owned 1,104,645 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $48,902,634.15. This represents a 1.78% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 15.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Universal Insurance Company Profile

Universal Insurance Holdings, Inc (NYSE: UVE) is a property and casualty insurance holding company headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida. The company underwrites homeowners and other residential property insurance products to protect against natural catastrophes such as hurricanes, windstorms and fires. It distributes policies primarily through a network of independent agents and brokers, offering coverage for primary residences, secondary homes, condominiums, vacant dwellings and rental properties across its service territory.

In addition to personal lines, Universal provides commercial property and casualty insurance tailored to small businesses and institutional clients.