Safety Insurance Group (NASDAQ:SAFT) Sets New 1-Year High - Time to Buy?

Key Points

• Safety Insurance Group reached a new 52-week high of $103.75, with shares up from a 50-day average of $86.40 and a 200-day average of $78.55.
• The company beat quarterly earnings expectations, reporting $2.03 in EPS versus the $2.00 consensus estimate, while analysts project full-year EPS of $4.75. Recent rating changes have lifted its consensus view to “Moderate Buy.”
• Safety announced a quarterly dividend of $0.92 per share, equivalent to a 3.5% annualized yield; however, insiders have sold more than $134 million in stock over the past 90 days, including a major shareholder’s 72.38% ownership reduction.

Safety Insurance Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:SAFT - Get Free Report)'s share price reached a new 52-week high during trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $103.75 and last traded at $103.7350, with a volume of 68404 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $103.59.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on SAFT shares. Zacks Research upgraded Safety Insurance Group to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 27th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Safety Insurance Group from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, June 6th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Safety Insurance Group from a "hold (c+)" rating to a "buy (b)" rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Safety Insurance Group currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy".

Safety Insurance Group Trading Up 0.1%

The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $86.40 and a 200 day simple moving average of $78.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a quick ratio of 0.41 and a current ratio of 0.41. The company has a market capitalization of $1.52 billion, a PE ratio of 22.36 and a beta of 0.17.

Safety Insurance Group (NASDAQ:SAFT - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The insurance provider reported $2.03 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.00 by $0.03. Safety Insurance Group had a return on equity of 7.23% and a net margin of 5.33%.The business had revenue of $325.68 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $325.68 million. Analysts anticipate that Safety Insurance Group, Inc. will post 4.75 earnings per share for the current year.

Safety Insurance Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.92 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 1st. This represents a $3.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.5%. Safety Insurance Group's dividend payout ratio is presently 79.31%.

Insider Activity at Safety Insurance Group

In other news, major shareholder Corp Srb sold 1,240,352 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.07, for a total value of $127,843,080.64. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 473,387 shares in the company, valued at $48,791,998.09. This represents a 72.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders have sold 1,316,109 shares of company stock valued at $134,654,987 in the last ninety days. 2.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Safety Insurance Group

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in Safety Insurance Group in the 2nd quarter valued at about $171,385,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Safety Insurance Group by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,661,343 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $129,435,000 after purchasing an additional 29,511 shares in the last quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System grew its position in shares of Safety Insurance Group by 7,152.6% in the second quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 1,037,709 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $77,683,000 after purchasing an additional 1,023,401 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Safety Insurance Group by 0.5% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 711,806 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $51,708,000 after purchasing an additional 3,319 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Safety Insurance Group by 353.4% in the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 306,554 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $23,884,000 after purchasing an additional 238,946 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.04% of the company's stock.

About Safety Insurance Group

Safety Insurance Group, Inc is a publicly traded property and casualty insurance holding company incorporated in Massachusetts in 1994. Its principal subsidiary, Safety Insurance Company, traces its roots back to 1923 and has since evolved into a regional personal lines insurer. The company is headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, and trades on the Nasdaq under the symbol SAFT.

Safety Insurance Group focuses primarily on private passenger automobile and homeowners insurance products, along with dwelling fire, umbrella liability, and certain commercial auto coverages.

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