State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D Acquires 8,202 Shares of Employers Holdings Inc $EIG

Key Points

• The State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D increased its stake in Employers Holdings Inc by 19.4% during the first quarter, bringing its total holdings to 50,495 shares valued at approximately $2.56 million.
• Employers announced a quarterly dividend of $0.32 per share, reflecting an annualized dividend yield of 3.0% and a payout ratio of 31.22%.
• The company recently reported quarterly earnings of $0.48 per share, which fell short of analyst expectations, but its revenue grew by 13.5% year-over-year to $246.3 million.

State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D lifted its holdings in shares of Employers Holdings Inc (NYSE:EIG - Free Report) by 19.4% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 50,495 shares of the financial services provider's stock after buying an additional 8,202 shares during the period. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D owned approximately 0.21% of Employers worth $2,557,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in shares of Employers by 5,792.9% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 108,724 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $5,506,000 after purchasing an additional 106,879 shares during the period. Deutsche Bank AG lifted its position in Employers by 121.1% during the fourth quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 51,742 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $2,651,000 after purchasing an additional 28,343 shares in the last quarter. Vest Financial LLC purchased a new position in Employers during the first quarter valued at $860,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in Employers by 439.5% in the 1st quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 50,669 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $2,566,000 after buying an additional 41,277 shares in the last quarter. Finally, LSV Asset Management increased its stake in Employers by 7.1% in the 1st quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 1,067,976 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $54,082,000 after buying an additional 70,402 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.49% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Employers Stock Down 0.3%

EIG stock traded down $0.13 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $42.95. The company had a trading volume of 59,339 shares, compared to its average volume of 169,044. The company has a market capitalization of $1.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.46 and a beta of 0.52. Employers Holdings Inc has a 12-month low of $38.19 and a 12-month high of $54.44. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $44.81 and a 200 day moving average price of $47.50.

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

Employers Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, August 27th. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 3.0%. Employers's dividend payout ratio is currently 31.22%.

Employers Profile

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.