Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. Makes New Investment in Kemper Co. (NYSE:KMPR)

Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Kemper Co. (NYSE:KMPR) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 7,021 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $430,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in KMPR. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Kemper by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,203,724 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $301,935,000 after buying an additional 28,095 shares during the period. Quadrature Capital Ltd increased its stake in shares of Kemper by 157.3% during the fourth quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd now owns 13,301 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $648,000 after purchasing an additional 8,131 shares in the last quarter. CWM LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Kemper by 257.8% during the first quarter. CWM LLC now owns 483 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 348 shares during the last quarter. Oliver Luxxe Assets LLC purchased a new position in shares of Kemper during the first quarter valued at approximately $560,000. Finally, CCG Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Kemper in the 1st quarter worth approximately $233,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.23% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the company. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and set a $85.00 price objective on shares of Kemper in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on Kemper from $77.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th. UBS Group lifted their target price on Kemper from $67.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. StockNews.com lowered Kemper from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, September 8th. Finally, Raymond James upped their price target on Kemper from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $76.20.

Kemper Trading Down 1.2 %

NYSE:KMPR opened at $63.64 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.22, a quick ratio of 0.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. Kemper Co. has a 12 month low of $38.52 and a 12 month high of $65.93. The company has a market cap of $4.10 billion, a PE ratio of -33.49 and a beta of 0.85. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $61.31 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $60.21.

Kemper (NYSE:KMPR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 5th. The insurance provider reported $1.42 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.19 by $0.23. The firm had revenue of $1.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.02 billion. Kemper had a net margin of 1.11% and a return on equity of 7.27%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 10.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.26) EPS. Research analysts forecast that Kemper Co. will post 5.17 earnings per share for the current year.

Kemper Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 3rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 19th were paid a dividend of $0.31 per share. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.95%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 19th. Kemper’s dividend payout ratio is presently -65.26%.

About Kemper

Kemper Corporation, a diversified insurance holding company, engages in the provision of insurance products to individuals and businesses in the United States. The company operates through three segments: Specialty Property & Casualty Insurance, Preferred Property & Casualty Insurance, and Life & Health Insurance.