Public Sector Pension Investment Board Buys 36,037 Shares of Employers Holdings Inc $EIG

Key Points

• The Public Sector Pension Investment Board increased its stake in Employers Holdings Inc by 58.5% in the first quarter, holding 97,607 shares valued at approximately $4.9 million by quarter's end.
• Employers Holdings recently reported a quarterly EPS of $0.48, missing expectations by $0.46, although revenues exceeded estimates with $246.30 million.
• The firm declared a quarterly dividend of $0.32, yielding 3.1%, with the dividend payment scheduled for August 27th.

Public Sector Pension Investment Board increased its stake in Employers Holdings Inc (NYSE:EIG - Free Report) by 58.5% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 97,607 shares of the financial services provider's stock after buying an additional 36,037 shares during the quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board owned approximately 0.41% of Employers worth $4,943,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Aquatic Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Employers in the 4th quarter valued at $29,000. Lazard Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in Employers in the 4th quarter valued at $48,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in Employers by 16.4% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,147 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $109,000 after acquiring an additional 302 shares during the period. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. bought a new position in Employers during the 4th quarter worth $137,000. Finally, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its position in Employers by 8.0% during the 1st quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 2,895 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $147,000 after buying an additional 215 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 80.49% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP John M. Mutschink sold 2,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.12, for a total value of $98,240.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 19,789 shares of the company's stock, valued at $972,035.68. This trade represents a 9.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 1.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Wall Street Zen upgraded Employers from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Sunday, August 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $58.00.

Employers Stock Up 1.3%

Shares of EIG traded up $0.5560 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $43.6760. 32,929 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 168,958. The company has a market cap of $1.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.68 and a beta of 0.52. Employers Holdings Inc has a fifty-two week low of $38.19 and a fifty-two week high of $54.44. The firm's fifty day moving average is $44.95 and its 200 day moving average is $47.61.

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

Employers Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, August 27th. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 13th will be paid a $0.32 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 13th. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.9%. Employers's dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.