Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Raises Position in Radian Group Inc. (NYSE:RDN)

Key Points

• Jefferies Financial Group Inc. significantly increased its stake in Radian Group by 169.5%, acquiring an additional 65,867 shares during the first quarter.
• A recent equity analyst report led to Radian Group shares being downgraded from "strong-buy" to "hold" by Compass Point, while Barclays raised their price target from $34.00 to $35.00.
• Radian Group announced a quarterly dividend of $0.255 per share and initiated a $750 million share buyback program, indicating management's belief that the stock is undervalued.

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Radian Group Inc. (NYSE:RDN - Free Report) by 169.5% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 104,717 shares of the insurance provider's stock after acquiring an additional 65,867 shares during the quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. owned 0.07% of Radian Group worth $3,463,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in RDN. LPL Financial LLC boosted its stake in Radian Group by 177.6% during the 4th quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 27,320 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $867,000 after purchasing an additional 17,477 shares during the last quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA boosted its stake in Radian Group by 27.1% during the 4th quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 23,745 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $753,000 after purchasing an additional 5,063 shares during the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. boosted its stake in Radian Group by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 199,889 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $6,340,000 after purchasing an additional 629 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its stake in Radian Group by 7.3% during the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 92,480 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $2,933,000 after purchasing an additional 6,258 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of Montreal Can boosted its stake in Radian Group by 13.1% during the 4th quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 21,211 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $673,000 after purchasing an additional 2,457 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.33% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have commented on RDN shares. Compass Point lowered shares of Radian Group from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, May 23rd. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Radian Group from $34.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. UBS Group reiterated a "neutral" rating and issued a $38.00 price objective (up previously from $36.00) on shares of Radian Group in a research note on Monday, July 14th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods downgraded shares of Radian Group from a "moderate buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $38.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Monday, July 7th.

Insider Transactions at Radian Group

In other news, EVP Edward J. Hoffman sold 20,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, June 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.00, for a total transaction of $720,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 161,586 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,817,096. This trade represents a 11.01% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Howard Bernard Culang sold 8,773 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, June 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.37, for a total transaction of $292,755.01. Following the sale, the director owned 8,050 shares in the company, valued at approximately $268,628.50. This trade represents a 52.15% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 86,378 shares of company stock worth $2,944,414. 2.01% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Radian Group Stock Performance

RDN traded up $0.04 on Thursday, hitting $33.51. The company's stock had a trading volume of 30,773 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,504,300. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $34.42 and its 200-day simple moving average is $33.31. The firm has a market cap of $4.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.45 and a beta of 0.74. Radian Group Inc. has a 12 month low of $29.32 and a 12 month high of $36.99. The company has a quick ratio of 3.44, a current ratio of 1.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54.

Radian Group (NYSE:RDN - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The insurance provider reported $1.01 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.93 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $318.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $321.97 million. Radian Group had a net margin of 45.62% and a return on equity of 13.25%. Radian Group's revenue for the quarter was down .9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.98 EPS. Analysts forecast that Radian Group Inc. will post 3.79 EPS for the current year.

Radian Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 2nd were issued a $0.255 dividend. This represents a $1.02 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 2nd. Radian Group's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 25.69%.

Radian Group declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase program on Wednesday, May 21st that allows the company to repurchase $750.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the insurance provider to reacquire up to 16.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Radian Group Company Profile

Radian Group Inc, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the mortgage and real estate services business in the United States. It operates through two segments, Mortgage Insurance and Homegenius segments. The Mortgage Insurance segment aggregates, manages, and distributes U.S. mortgage credit risk for mortgage lending institutions and mortgage credit investors, through private mortgage insurance on residential first-lien mortgage loans; and other credit risk management solutions, including contract underwriting.