HCI Group, Inc. (NYSE:HCI) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Buy” by Analysts

HCI Group, Inc. (NYSE:HCI) has been assigned a consensus rating of “Buy” from the five ratings firms that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Five analysts have rated the stock with a buy recommendation. The average 1 year price objective among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $124.00.

HCI has been the subject of several research reports. Compass Point lifted their price target on shares of HCI Group from $90.00 to $124.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 13th. Truist Financial lifted their price target on shares of HCI Group from $96.00 to $112.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 12th. William Blair raised shares of HCI Group from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, March 8th. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and set a $120.00 target price on shares of HCI Group in a research note on Monday. Finally, Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $140.00 target price on shares of HCI Group in a research note on Friday, April 5th.

HCI Group Stock Performance

HCI Group stock opened at $111.93 on Wednesday. HCI Group has a 12-month low of $48.08 and a 12-month high of $121.57. The company has a market capitalization of $1.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.81 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 0.62 and a quick ratio of 0.62. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $106.42 and its 200 day moving average price is $88.15.

HCI Group (NYSE:HCI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 7th. The insurance provider reported $3.22 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.41 by $1.81. The company had revenue of $162.67 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $146.09 million. HCI Group had a net margin of 14.35% and a return on equity of 36.40%. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.06 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that HCI Group will post 10.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

HCI Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Investors of record on Friday, February 16th were issued a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 15th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.43%. HCI Group’s payout ratio is currently 21.16%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other HCI Group news, CEO Paresh Patel bought 500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 11th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $111.00 per share, for a total transaction of $55,500.00. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer now directly owns 349,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $38,794,500. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, CEO Paresh Patel bought 500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 11th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $111.00 per share, with a total value of $55,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 349,500 shares in the company, valued at approximately $38,794,500. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Anthony Saravanos sold 20,873 shares of HCI Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $116.78, for a total transaction of $2,437,548.94. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 30,000 shares in the company, valued at $3,503,400. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 113,102 shares of company stock worth $13,198,303 in the last ninety days. 25.25% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. BlackRock Inc. increased its stake in shares of HCI Group by 0.4% during the 2nd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 1,077,392 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $66,561,000 after purchasing an additional 4,127 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of HCI Group by 3.9% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 558,696 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $38,092,000 after buying an additional 21,054 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of HCI Group by 2.6% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 380,933 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $25,972,000 after buying an additional 9,798 shares during the period. Voya Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of HCI Group by 14.0% during the 4th quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC now owns 305,506 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $26,701,000 after buying an additional 37,465 shares during the period. Finally, State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of HCI Group by 3.8% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 221,412 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $15,003,000 after buying an additional 8,145 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.99% of the company’s stock.

About HCI Group

HCI Group, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the property and casualty insurance, insurance management, reinsurance, real estate, and information technology businesses in Florida. It provides residential insurance products, such as homeowners, fire, flood, and wind-only insurance to homeowners, condominium owners, and tenants for properties, as well as offers reinsurance programs.