United Fire Group (NASDAQ:UFCS) Hits New 12-Month High – Time to Buy?

United Fire Group, Inc (NASDAQ:UFCS)’s stock price reached a new 52-week high during trading on Tuesday. The stock traded as high as $56.98 and last traded at $56.0730, with a volume of 5,805 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $56.00.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on UFCS. Weiss Ratings raised shares of United Fire Group from a “buy (a-)” rating to a “buy (a)” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 8th. Zacks Research raised shares of United Fire Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, September 17th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of United Fire Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Sunday, August 2nd. Finally, Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on shares of United Fire Group from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and two have issued a Buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Strong Buy” and a consensus target price of $52.50.

United Fire Group Trading Down 0.5%

The company has a current ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 0.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.22 and a beta of 0.47. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $54.32 and a 200 day moving average price of $49.18.

United Fire Group (NASDAQ:UFCS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 3rd. The insurance provider reported $1.30 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.69 by $0.61. United Fire Group had a return on equity of 15.19% and a net margin of 9.57%. The firm had revenue of $383.73 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $347.76 million. On average, research analysts forecast that United Fire Group, Inc will post 4.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

United Fire Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 18th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 4th were issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 4th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.4%. United Fire Group’s payout ratio is currently 14.87%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other United Fire Group news, Director Scott Carlton sold 9,777 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.52, for a total transaction of $542,819.04. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 200,552 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,134,647.04. This represents a 4.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 6.06% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in United Fire Group during the second quarter valued at approximately $183,136,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in United Fire Group by 0.8% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,489,968 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $55,219,000 after acquiring an additional 12,329 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE acquired a new stake in United Fire Group in the second quarter valued at approximately $24,936,000. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in United Fire Group by 5.0% in the first quarter. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. now owns 211,768 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $7,848,000 after acquiring an additional 10,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. acquired a new stake in United Fire Group in the second quarter valued at approximately $9,720,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.68% of the company’s stock.

About United Fire Group

United Fire Group, Inc (NASDAQ:UFCS) is an insurance holding company headquartered in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Through its subsidiaries, the company provides property and casualty insurance products to businesses and individuals, primarily through a network of independent insurance agents.

United Fire Group offers commercial insurance covering areas such as commercial property, general liability, commercial automobile, workers’ compensation and surety bonds. Its personal insurance products include automobile and homeowners coverage.