Merit Financial Group LLC Makes New Investment in MGIC Investment Co. (NYSE:MTG)

Merit Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in MGIC Investment Co. (NYSE:MTG - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 9,348 shares of the insurance provider's stock, valued at approximately $232,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in MTG. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of MGIC Investment in the fourth quarter valued at $85,908,000. First Trust Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of MGIC Investment by 22.4% during the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 16,008,489 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $379,561,000 after acquiring an additional 2,928,595 shares during the last quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec boosted its stake in shares of MGIC Investment by 292.0% during the fourth quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 2,072,629 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $49,142,000 after acquiring an additional 1,543,908 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its stake in shares of MGIC Investment by 259.4% during the fourth quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 1,105,399 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $26,209,000 after acquiring an additional 797,852 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of MGIC Investment by 16.6% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,766,195 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $113,006,000 after acquiring an additional 677,227 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.58% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MTG has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Compass Point reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $28.00 price objective (up previously from $27.00) on shares of MGIC Investment in a research note on Friday, May 23rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price objective on MGIC Investment from $28.00 to $26.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on MGIC Investment from $25.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $26.63.

MGIC Investment Trading Up 0.3%

NYSE:MTG traded up $0.08 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $26.93. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,036,954 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,800,378. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $25.59 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $24.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 0.48 and a quick ratio of 1.25. MGIC Investment Co. has a twelve month low of $20.35 and a twelve month high of $27.34. The stock has a market cap of $6.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.29 and a beta of 0.89.

MGIC Investment (NYSE:MTG - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The insurance provider reported $0.75 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.66 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $306.23 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $306.66 million. MGIC Investment had a return on equity of 14.86% and a net margin of 63.18%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 4.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.65 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that MGIC Investment Co. will post 2.71 EPS for the current year.

MGIC Investment Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 21st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 8th were issued a $0.13 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 8th. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.93%. MGIC Investment's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 17.28%.

MGIC Investment announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, April 24th that authorizes the company to buyback $750.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the insurance provider to purchase up to 12.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally an indication that the company's board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Transactions at MGIC Investment

In other news, EVP Paula C. Maggio sold 20,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.49, for a total value of $529,800.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 157,395 shares in the company, valued at $4,169,393.55. This trade represents a 11.27% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 1.05% of the company's stock.

MGIC Investment Profile

MGIC Investment Corporation, through its subsidiaries, provides private mortgage insurance, other mortgage credit risk management solutions, and ancillary services to lenders and government sponsored entities in the United States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and Guam. The company offers primary mortgage insurance that provides mortgage default protection on individual loans, as well as covers unpaid loan principal, delinquent interest, and various expenses associated with the default and subsequent foreclosure.