Old Republic International Corporation $ORI Shares Sold by Legal & General Group Plc

Key Points

• Legal & General Group Plc reduced its stake in Old Republic International by 18.3% in the fourth quarter, selling 87,718 shares and ending with 391,844 shares valued at about $17.9 million.
• Analyst sentiment is mixed: Zacks Research downgraded ORI to strong sell, while the overall consensus remains Moderate Buy with a $42.00 price target.
• Old Republic International reported Q1 earnings of $0.68 per share, missing estimates, but revenue came in slightly above expectations at $2.40 billion. The company also declared a quarterly dividend of $0.315 per share, implying a 3.4% yield.

Legal & General Group Plc cut its position in Old Republic International Corporation (NYSE:ORI - Free Report) by 18.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 391,844 shares of the insurance provider's stock after selling 87,718 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc owned approximately 0.16% of Old Republic International worth $17,884,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in ORI. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Old Republic International by 55.7% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 5,779,156 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $221,457,000 after purchasing an additional 2,066,965 shares during the period. Captrust Financial Advisors lifted its position in Old Republic International by 98.0% during the 3rd quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 3,197,538 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $135,799,000 after acquiring an additional 1,582,895 shares during the period. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd acquired a new stake in Old Republic International during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $27,289,000. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its position in Old Republic International by 30.6% during the 3rd quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 2,331,577 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $99,022,000 after acquiring an additional 545,803 shares during the period. Finally, Arbejdsmarkedets Tillaegspension acquired a new stake in Old Republic International during the 4th quarter worth approximately $24,539,000. 70.92% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have weighed in on ORI shares. Zacks Research cut Old Republic International from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Raymond James Financial set a $44.00 price objective on Old Republic International in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on Old Republic International from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut Old Republic International from a "buy (a-)" rating to a "buy (b+)" rating in a research report on Friday, March 27th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has issued a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $42.00.

Insider Activity at Old Republic International

In related news, SVP Carolyn Monroe sold 13,330 shares of Old Republic International stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.76, for a total transaction of $516,670.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 32,261 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,250,436.36. The trade was a 29.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. 1.32% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Old Republic International Stock Down 1.4%

ORI opened at $36.72 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 0.23 and a quick ratio of 0.23. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $39.90 and a 200-day simple moving average of $41.87. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.85 and a beta of 0.60. Old Republic International Corporation has a 12 month low of $35.60 and a 12 month high of $46.76.

Old Republic International (NYSE:ORI - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The insurance provider reported $0.68 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.79 by ($0.11). The business had revenue of $2.40 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.39 billion. Old Republic International had a net margin of 10.83% and a return on equity of 15.71%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 6.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.81 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Old Republic International Corporation will post 2.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Old Republic International Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 5th will be issued a $0.315 dividend. This represents a $1.26 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 5th. Old Republic International's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 33.78%.

Old Republic International Company Profile

Old Republic International Corporation, through its subsidiaries, engages in the insurance underwriting and related services business primarily in the United States and Canada. It operates through three segments: General Insurance, Title Insurance, and Republic Financial Indemnity Group Run-off Business. The General Insurance segment offers aviation, commercial auto, commercial multi-peril, commercial property, general liability, home and auto warranty, inland marine, travel accident, and workers' compensation insurance products; and financial indemnity products for specialty coverages, including errors and omissions, fidelity, directors and officers, and surety.

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