Employers Holdings Inc $EIG Shares Purchased by AlphaQuest LLC

Key Points

• AlphaQuest LLC increased its stake in Employers Holdings Inc by 136.2% in the first quarter, owning approximately 0.10% of the company worth $1.17 million after purchasing an additional 13,287 shares.
• Employers reported $0.48 earnings per share for the last quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.94, despite a year-over-year revenue increase of 13.5% to $246.30 million.
• The company declared a $0.32 quarterly dividend, with an annualized dividend yield of 2.9%, set to be paid on August 27th to stockholders of record on August 13th.

AlphaQuest LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Employers Holdings Inc (NYSE:EIG - Free Report) by 136.2% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 23,044 shares of the financial services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 13,287 shares during the period. AlphaQuest LLC owned approximately 0.10% of Employers worth $1,167,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Employers by 8.0% in the first quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 2,895 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $147,000 after acquiring an additional 215 shares in the last quarter. Martingale Asset Management L P boosted its holdings in Employers by 1.0% during the first quarter. Martingale Asset Management L P now owns 31,750 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,608,000 after buying an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in Employers by 16.4% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,147 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $109,000 after buying an additional 302 shares in the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its holdings in Employers by 3.8% during the fourth quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 14,041 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $719,000 after buying an additional 518 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Aquatic Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Employers during the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. 80.49% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Wall Street Zen cut shares of Employers from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Monday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $58.00.

Employers Stock Performance

Employers stock traded up $0.31 during trading on Friday, reaching $43.21. The company had a trading volume of 33,380 shares, compared to its average volume of 168,689. Employers Holdings Inc has a 12-month low of $38.19 and a 12-month high of $54.44. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $44.61 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $47.40. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.53 and a beta of 0.52.

Employers (NYSE:EIG - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The financial services provider reported $0.48 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.94 by ($0.46). The firm had revenue of $246.30 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $217.17 million. Employers had a net margin of 11.37% and a return on equity of 7.56%. Employers's revenue for the quarter was up 13.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.10 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Employers Holdings Inc will post 3.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Employers Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 27th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 13th were paid a $0.32 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 13th. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.0%. Employers's dividend payout ratio is 31.22%.

About Employers

Employers Holdings, Inc, through its subsidiaries, operates in the commercial property and casualty insurance industry primarily in the United States. The company operates in two segments, Employers and Cerity. It offers workers' compensation insurance to small businesses in low to medium hazard industries under the Employers and Cerity brands.