AMERISAFE (NASDAQ:AMSF) Shares Up 5% After Dividend Announcement

Key Points

• AMERISAFE's stock increased by 5%, trading at $45.74 after reaching a high of $46.72, with a significant decline in trading volume.
• JMP Securities has maintained a "market outperform" rating for AMERISAFE, setting a price target of $65.00 per share.
• The company's recent earnings report showed a miss on EPS estimates, with actual earnings at $0.53 against a forecast of $0.55, although revenue exceeded expectations.
• AMERISAFE has a dividend yield of 3.42% with an annualized dividend of $1.56, and a payout ratio of 62.90%.

AMERISAFE, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMSF - Get Free Report)'s share price shot up 5% on Friday following a dividend announcement from the company. The stock traded as high as $46.72 and last traded at $45.74. 15,433 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 85% from the average session volume of 102,891 shares. The stock had previously closed at $43.58.

The newly announced dividend which will be paid on Friday, September 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 12th will be issued a dividend of $0.39 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 12th. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.40%. AMERISAFE's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 59.09%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AMSF has been the subject of several recent research reports. JMP Securities restated a "market outperform" rating and set a $65.00 price target on shares of AMERISAFE in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Truist Financial lowered their price target on shares of AMERISAFE from $54.00 to $50.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research report on Monday. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of AMERISAFE from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday.

AMERISAFE Price Performance

The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $44.95 and a 200 day simple moving average of $48.17. The company has a market cap of $872.97 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.40 and a beta of 0.40.

AMERISAFE (NASDAQ:AMSF - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 24th. The insurance provider reported $0.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.55 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $79.70 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $77.30 million. AMERISAFE had a return on equity of 16.54% and a net margin of 16.46%. Analysts expect that AMERISAFE, Inc. will post 2.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in AMSF. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in shares of AMERISAFE during the first quarter valued at $8,466,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of AMERISAFE by 82.6% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 217,280 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $11,418,000 after acquiring an additional 98,293 shares during the period. Royce & Associates LP lifted its holdings in shares of AMERISAFE by 29.6% during the first quarter. Royce & Associates LP now owns 395,756 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $20,797,000 after acquiring an additional 90,395 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of AMERISAFE by 18.4% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 536,836 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $27,675,000 after acquiring an additional 83,297 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in shares of AMERISAFE by 6,160.6% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 84,080 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $4,418,000 after buying an additional 82,737 shares during the last quarter. 97.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About AMERISAFE

AMERISAFE, Inc, an insurance holding company, underwrites workers' compensation insurance in the United States. The company provides benefits to injured employees for temporary or permanent disability, death, and medical and hospital expenses. It sells its products through retail and wholesale brokers and agents; and small and mid-sized employers engaged in hazardous industries, including construction, trucking, logging and lumber, agriculture, manufacturing, telecommunications, and maritime.