Safety Insurance Group (NASDAQ:SAFT) Reaches New 1-Year High - Still a Buy?

Key Points

• Safety Insurance Group hit a 52-week high, trading as high as $104.41; shares last traded at $104.375.
• The insurer reported quarterly EPS of $1.95, beating the $1.25 consensus estimate. Analysts’ overall rating is “Moderate Buy,” based on one Buy and one Hold rating.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.92 per share, equivalent to an annualized yield of about 3.5%.

Safety Insurance Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:SAFT - Get Free Report) reached a new 52-week high on Tuesday. The stock traded as high as $104.41 and last traded at $104.3750, with a volume of 1,338 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $104.27.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Safety Insurance Group from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "buy (b)" rating in a report on Thursday, September 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy".

Safety Insurance Group Stock Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $1.53 billion, a PE ratio of 21.84 and a beta of 0.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a current ratio of 0.41 and a quick ratio of 0.41. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $103.77 and a 200 day moving average price of $85.52.

Safety Insurance Group (NASDAQ:SAFT - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, November 4th. The insurance provider reported $1.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.25 by $0.70. The firm had revenue of $327.77 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $327.77 million. Safety Insurance Group had a net margin of 5.33% and a return on equity of 7.23%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Safety Insurance Group, Inc. will post 4.15 earnings per share for the current year.

Safety Insurance Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.92 per share. This represents a $3.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 1st. Safety Insurance Group's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 76.99%.

Institutional Trading of Safety Insurance Group

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of SAFT. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in Safety Insurance Group during the second quarter valued at approximately $171,385,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in Safety Insurance Group by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 711,806 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $51,708,000 after purchasing an additional 3,319 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new position in Safety Insurance Group during the second quarter valued at approximately $10,513,000. Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its position in shares of Safety Insurance Group by 0.3% during the 1st quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 140,400 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $10,199,000 after acquiring an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in Safety Insurance Group by 2.0% during the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 72,384 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $5,258,000 after purchasing an additional 1,406 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 81.04% of the company's stock.

About Safety Insurance Group

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