Victory Capital Management Inc. Grows Holdings in Universal Insurance Holdings Inc (NYSE:UVE)

Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Universal Insurance Holdings Inc (NYSE:UVE) by 4.9% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 11,971 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 563 shares during the quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Universal Insurance were worth $284,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Universal Insurance by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,674,545 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $35,266,000 after buying an additional 4,480 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in shares of Universal Insurance by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,496,224 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $31,510,000 after acquiring an additional 6,250 shares in the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Universal Insurance by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 366,877 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $7,726,000 after acquiring an additional 2,181 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC raised its position in shares of Universal Insurance by 10.5% during the 4th quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 357,100 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $7,521,000 after acquiring an additional 33,900 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Universal Insurance by 3.7% during the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 325,910 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $6,864,000 after acquiring an additional 11,623 shares in the last quarter. 66.61% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Chairman Sean P. Downes sold 25,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.91, for a total transaction of $672,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman owned 926,667 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $24,936,608.97. This trade represents a 2.63% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Jon Springer sold 30,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.06, for a total value of $811,800.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 301,835 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,167,655.10. This represents a 9.04% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 101,393 shares of company stock worth $2,687,275 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 16.60% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Wall Street Zen lowered Universal Insurance from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday.

Universal Insurance Price Performance

Shares of NYSE UVE opened at $23.04 on Friday. Universal Insurance Holdings Inc has a 1-year low of $16.50 and a 1-year high of $28.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a current ratio of 0.58 and a quick ratio of 0.50. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $25.88 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $23.52. The firm has a market capitalization of $652.44 million, a PE ratio of 10.06 and a beta of 0.87.

Universal Insurance (NYSE:UVE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The insurance provider reported $1.23 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.09 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $596.72 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $359.98 million. Universal Insurance had a return on equity of 15.37% and a net margin of 4.24%. On average, research analysts expect that Universal Insurance Holdings Inc will post 1.66 EPS for the current year.

Universal Insurance Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 8th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.16 per share. This represents a $0.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 1st. Universal Insurance’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 27.95%.

Universal Insurance Company Profile

Universal Insurance Holdings, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates as an integrated insurance holding company in the United States. It develops, markets, and underwrites insurance products for personal residential insurance, such as homeowners, renters/tenants, condo unit owners, and dwelling/fire; and offers allied lines, coverage for other structures, and personal property, liability, and personal articles coverages.