Safety Insurance Group (NASDAQ:SAFT) Announces Earnings Results, Beats Estimates By $0.03 EPS

Safety Insurance Group (NASDAQ:SAFT) announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday. The insurance provider reported $2.03 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.00 by $0.03, FiscalAI reports. The business had revenue of $325.68 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $322.90 million. Safety Insurance Group had a net margin of 4.94% and a return on equity of 6.31%.

Safety Insurance Group Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ SAFT remained flat at $103.50 during mid-day trading on Thursday. The company had a trading volume of 176,370 shares, compared to its average volume of 132,254. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a quick ratio of 0.39 and a current ratio of 0.39. Safety Insurance Group has a 52 week low of $67.04 and a 52 week high of $103.63. The firm has a market cap of $1.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.47 and a beta of 0.17. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $78.40 and a 200-day moving average price of $76.28.

Safety Insurance Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.92 per share. This represents a $3.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 1st. Safety Insurance Group’s dividend payout ratio is 87.00%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Safety Insurance Group news, major shareholder Corp Srb sold 1,240,352 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.07, for a total transaction of $127,843,080.64. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 473,387 shares in the company, valued at $48,791,998.09. This represents a 72.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders have sold a total of 1,316,109 shares of company stock worth $134,654,987 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 2.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Safety Insurance Group

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its stake in Safety Insurance Group by 62.5% in the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 416 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 160 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Safety Insurance Group by 1,317.1% during the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 496 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $39,000 after buying an additional 461 shares in the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Safety Insurance Group by 653.0% during the 4th quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 497 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $39,000 after buying an additional 431 shares during the last quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Safety Insurance Group in the fourth quarter valued at about $52,000. Finally, Quadrant Capital Group LLC boosted its stake in Safety Insurance Group by 309.4% in the fourth quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 1,130 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $88,000 after buying an additional 854 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 81.04% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

SAFT has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Zacks Research upgraded Safety Insurance Group to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 27th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Safety Insurance Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, June 6th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised Safety Insurance Group from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Friday, July 24th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating, According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold”.

Safety Insurance Group Company Profile

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.