Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Trims Stock Position in United Fire Group, Inc $UFCS

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. decreased its holdings in United Fire Group, Inc (NASDAQ:UFCS) by 9.9% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 140,331 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 15,433 shares during the quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. owned about 0.55% of United Fire Group worth $4,134,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. NewEdge Advisors LLC raised its position in United Fire Group by 17.7% in the 1st quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 2,499 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $74,000 after purchasing an additional 375 shares during the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. raised its position in United Fire Group by 4.0% in the 4th quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 11,936 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $340,000 after purchasing an additional 456 shares during the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. raised its position in United Fire Group by 131.3% in the 1st quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 1,115 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 633 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in United Fire Group by 270.2% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,329 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 970 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Point72 Asset Management L.P. increased its stake in United Fire Group by 21.2% in the 4th quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 6,558 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $187,000 after buying an additional 1,147 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.68% of the company’s stock.

United Fire Group Trading Up 1.7%

Shares of UFCS stock opened at $31.67 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $807.33 million, a P/E ratio of 9.02 and a beta of 0.57. United Fire Group, Inc has a 1-year low of $19.19 and a 1-year high of $32.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 0.37 and a quick ratio of 0.37. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $29.41 and its 200-day simple moving average is $28.53.

United Fire Group (NASDAQ:UFCS) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The insurance provider reported $0.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.57 by $0.33. The firm had revenue of $314.80 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $337.99 million. United Fire Group had a net margin of 6.94% and a return on equity of 11.84%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that United Fire Group, Inc will post 2.42 EPS for the current year.

United Fire Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 12th. Investors of record on Friday, August 29th were given a dividend of $0.16 per share. This represents a $0.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 29th. United Fire Group’s dividend payout ratio is 18.23%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have issued reports on UFCS. Jones Trading boosted their price objective on shares of United Fire Group from $32.00 to $33.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 11th. Zacks Research raised shares of United Fire Group to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has assigned a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $30.50.

United Fire Group Profile

United Fire Group, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides property and casualty insurance for individuals and businesses in the United States. The company offers commercial and personal lines of property and casualty insurance; and reinsurance coverage for property and casualty insurance. Its commercial lines include fire and allied lines, other liability, automobile, workers’ compensation, fidelity and surety coverage, and other insurance products; and personal lines comprise automobile, and fire and allied lines coverage, including homeowners, as well as provides assumed reinsurance products.